


Electric Blue

by Medeafic



Category: Star Trek RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Attempted choking, Blow Jobs, Crack, Flying!sex, Guns, M/M, Villains
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-02-22
Updated: 2011-02-22
Packaged: 2017-10-15 21:07:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 23,431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/164946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Medeafic/pseuds/Medeafic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chris is a superhero.  Zach wants to be his sidekick.  Meanwhile, a dark force is rising in Los Angeles...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks as always to the gracious Emmessann for the beta.

“Chris?” Zach calls.

“What?”

“Why do you have a closet filled with spandex suits?”

There’s a pause, and then Zach hears hurried footsteps down the hallway.

“Why are you looking in my closet?” Chris asks, annoyed.  “That’s private.”

“I _said_ I needed to borrow a shirt,” Zach says.  He’s spilled Chris’s orange juice all over his shirt trying to drink it out of the carton.

“Oh.  Right.  Well…not that closet.  Please don’t go in there again.”  Chris grasps him firmly by the shoulders and about-faces him to the other closet.  “That one has shirts.”

Zach sidesteps back to the first closet.  “And this one has, what, your ice-dancing costumes?”  He reaches out to open it again, and Chris slams it shut.

He scowls at Zach.  “I said _don’t_ go in there, Quinto.”  A bright blue lycra sleeve is caught in the door, a silver lightning bolt insignia around the cuff.

“Ohmigod,” Zach says, the pieces clicking together.  “Oh.  My.  _God_.  You’re – you’re _him_ , aren’t you?  You’re –”

“ _Certainly not_ , I have no idea what you’re talking about, and I have to do a load of laundry now, so if you’re finished being so damn nosy, you can –”

Zach points at him with a shaky finger, shocked beyond belief, although it all makes a strange kind of sense.  “You’re – you’re _Electric Blue_!”

Chris clamps a hand over Zach’s mouth, and drags him to the ground.  “Shut _up_.  Stay here,” he hisses.  Zach watches him crawl to the window – and how, _how_ could he not have recognized that ass in the spandex as Chris’s? – and peek out the window.  A moment passes, and Chris sits down again, relaxes a little.  “You are _such_ a tool, Quinto,” he snaps.  “I have a lot of enemies out there, and some of them have sonic hearing, so just _keep it down_.”

“Oh my God,” Zach whispers.  “You really are, aren’t you?”

Chris sighs.  “Yes, okay?  Yes.  Now forget about it.”

“How can I forget about something like that?” Zach shrieks.  He slaps his own hands over his mouth again at Chris’s glare.  “Sorry,” he mumbles.  “Forgot.”  He stares at Chris, thinking back over everything.  “Chris, this is seriously blowing my mind.  And – how come you didn’t tell me?” he complains.  “We’re friends.”  In fact, Zach has been trying to make it more than friends for a while now.

“Because it’s a _secret_ , Zachary,” Chris says.  “I swore I’d never tell anyone.  And neither,” he says firmly, “can you.”

“Will you have to kill me if I do?” Zach asks, eyes wide.

“What?  No!  I’m a super _hero_ , not a super _villain_.  I don’t kill anyone.  Jeez, Zach.”  Chris looks really hurt.

“Sorry,” Zach says awkwardly.  “I didn’t really think you’d kill me.”

Chris scrapes at the carpet dolefully with his fingernail.

“Is it fun?” Zach asks.

Chris shrugged.  “Sometimes.  Mostly it’s a pain in the ass.  Small-time crooks.  The big villains are mostly on the other coast, you know?  They don’t come out to LA that often.  They don’t seem to like the weather here.  I guess it’s not gloomy enough for them.”

“But you just said you had a lot of enemies.”

“Yeah, well,” Chris says.  “Mostly the less-effective types.  Like The Dog Whisperer.  And Lady Luck.”

Zach gasps.  “Is it true you made out with her at the Chateau Marmont before she got arrested?”

“No.”  Chris looks pained.  “Lindsay…I mean, Lady Luck is just a fr – just an archenemy.  And I’d really prefer if we could change the subject now.”

“Is she _really_ a natural redhead?”

“ _Zach_.”

Chris leaves him to change into a new shirt.  Zach is itching to get another look in the costume closet, but resolves to respect Chris’s space.  Besides, the papers say Electric Blue has x-ray vision, so Chris might be watching him.  He runs a hand over his hair self-consciously.

When he goes back into the kitchen, Chris is making pancakes.  Zach watches him hover the batter in the air and zap it with his eyes, that signature blue beam making a strange hum, until the batter is perfectly cooked.

Chris catches Zach’s eye and grins a slightly uncertain grin, shrugs a shoulder.   “Since you know now…”

“Is – is that safe?” Zach asks doubtfully.  “I mean, is there a radioactivity issue here, if I eat that, or –”

Chris scowls again.  “Make your own damn pancakes, then,” he says, telekinetically tossing it at Zach’s head.

“Hey!” Zach protests, ducking.  “Give a guy some fucking process time, okay?  I just found out my best friend is a superhero.”

Chris sighs.  “Sorry.  I’m on edge.  There hasn’t been a lot of villain activity lately and my eyes get a bit sore if I don’t get regular ray-time.”

“Huh.  That must suck.”

Chris nods.  “It really does.  And I can’t even tell my ophthalmologist about it.”

Zach watches Chris’s sad face for a minute.  “Hey,” he said.  “Hover me.”

“What?”

“Hover me!”

“Why?”

“It’ll help your eyes.”

“I…don’t do that with my eyes.”

“Oh.”  Zach thinks for a second.  “Do it anyway.”

“What?  Why?”

“Because it’ll be _fun_ , dumbass.”

“Fun for _you_ ,” Chris snorts.  “I’m the one getting brain strain from levitating your big fat –”

“Could you just fucking hover me?” Zach snaps.  Chris looks belligerent, but reaches out his hands.  Zach feels something weird under his feet, like the air has become viscous.  He looks down, and sees his feet hanging a few inches above the floor.  “Whoah – whoooaah!!!”  He starts wind-milling his arms until he realizes Chris is keeping him completely steady.

“What are you doing?” Chris asks, puzzled.

Zach blushes, shoves his hands in his pockets.  “I was just messing with you,” he lies. 

“I’m gonna put you down now.”  Chris seems troubled.

Zach’s feet gently return to the tiles, and he stares at them for a while, then grins up at Chris.  “That’s so amazing,” he says.

“Yeah?” Chris asks, brightening. 

“Fuck yeah!”

Chris is beaming now.  “I wish I could’ve told you Zach, but – it’s dangerous.  You know?  I didn’t want you to get involved.  Especially since…”  Chris gets that look again, that worried, slightly angry look that Zach had been seeing for the past few weeks.

Zach sits down on the other side of the kitchen bench and puts his chin into his hands.  “Tell me,” he says.

“I heard a rumor from Perestroika that there’s a new villain on the rise – someone more powerful than we’re used to over here.”

“You know Perestroika?” Zach squeals.  “Ohmigod!  Is he as cute up close as he looks in the pictures?  Seriously, there’s one superhero that I really, _really_ wish didn’t wear a mask.  Although I do approve of the outfit.  Nice tight crotchal region.”

“Zach, _focus_.”  
     
“Sorry.”

“And besides,” Chris says crossly, “he stuffs.”

Chastened, Zach slides over his plate.  “Do me a pancake?  I won’t complain about your cooking anymore,” he adds, as Chris raises an eyebrow.

Chris talks while he zaps.  “Word on the street is that the LA villains had gone underground to regroup, gathering under the aegis of a new supervillain.  But we haven’t even confirmed a name for him yet,” Chris says.  “Just a few glimpses.”

“What’s his costume like?” Zach asks.

Chris shrugs.  “It’s not really a costume.  It’s – it’s a suit.  A three piece suit.  Like he thinks he’s all GQ.”  He curls his lip.  “Motherfucker.”

Chris stares into the distance, and Zach wonders again how he didn’t recognize those eyes beneath Electric Blue’s mask.  Zach shifts a little in his chair, remembering with uncomfortable clarity a really hot and really detailed dream he had the other night about Electric Blue _and_ Chris.  Maybe his subconscious had been trying to tell him something.

“I could be your sidekick!” Zach blurts.  Chris whips his head around, shocked.  The pancake falls onto Zach’s plate, and Chris hands it to him.

“No way,” he says.  “You don’t have any powers.”

“Sure I do,” Zach grins.  “I ooze charisma from every pore.”  Chris snorts.  “Come ooooon,” Zach says.  “A sidekick doesn’t _need_ to have powers.  Don’t you have high-tech gadgetry I could use?”

“I’m a hero, not a millionaire.  Eat your damn pancake.”

Zach shoves a forkful in his mouth.  The pancake is light, fluffy, perfectly piping hot without burning off the roof of his mouth.  “Mmmmmm,” he says in surprise.  “S’good.”  No hint of electrical burn at all, even in the aftertaste.

Chris looks pleased.  He starts zapping a pancake for himself.

“What else can you do with your eyes?” Zach asks thoughtfully. 

“What do you mean?” Chris asks, concentrating on his breakfast.

Zach pushes a piece of pancake through the maple syrup.  “Wellllll,” he drawls, looking up at Chris from beneath his lashes.  “Have you tried any sexy stuff with them?”

Chris’s pancake drops and splats, half-raw, on the bench.  “Dammit, Zach, what the hell?”

“I mean, if you can control the heat,” Zach says.  “Or – the sting…”

Chris flushes bright pink and busies himself with floating another ball of batter into the air.  “I haven’t had sex since I – got like this.”

Zach drops his mouth open, and Chris glances at him between fry-beams.  “Yuck, Quinto.  I don’t wanna see your mastication process.”

Zach chews quickly and swallows.  “ _What_?  Seriously?  You haven’t had sex since –”

“Since I got like this,” Chris sighs.

“But that’s –”  Zach tries to remember when Electric Blue first turned up.  “Over two years!” 

“I’ve had bigger things to worry about than my dick.”

“Not _many_ bigger things,” Zach mutters under his breath.  He might have gushed about Perestroika before, but truth be told, Electric Blue’s package has always attracted more press.  “Seriously?” he asks Chris.

“Seriously.  And anyway, I wouldn’t joke about something like this,” Chris says sadly.  “I can’t trust myself, not yet.  Sometimes when I, uh, you know.  If I’m doing it _alone_.  My eyes can get a bit out of control.  I burned a hole in the roof once.”

“Wow,” Zach breathes.  This is really not going to help his Electric Blue/Chris Pine threesome dreams.  “Intense.”

 Chris lets his pancake float gently on to his plate.  The maple syrup bottle quietly rises into the air and starts drizzling.

“So – what happened?” Zach asks awkwardly.  “To make you like this?”

Chris shrugs.  “I don’t even know, man.  I went to bed one day, got up the next – and here I was, blue-beamy and floating stuff.”

“And seeing through walls?”

Chris gives him a look.  “No.  The papers made that up.”

“Oh.”  Zach is mildly disappointed.  They eat in silence for a minute.  “So can I be your sidekick?” Zach asks again.

“No.”  Chris frowns.  “It’s _dangerous_ Zach.”

Zach chews thoughtfully.  “I have an idea,” he says.  “Wait here.” 

When he comes back a few minutes later, Chris gives him a blank look. 

“Well?  Am I right or am I right?” Zach asks.  He spreads his hands, turns around like he’s strutting a catwalk.  “No one would recognize me.”  He’s slicked back his hair with Chris’s gel, and – genius touch – put on a pair of thick, black-rimmed, square glasses that he found in Chris’s third drawer down in the bathroom.  “Mild-mannered hipster by day, fighter of crime by night!”

Chris looks at him like he’s crazy.  “You are being ridiculous.  And I don’t need a sidekick, Zach.  I have enough trouble keeping Perestroika out of trouble.  He’s –  enthusiastic.  Leaps before he looks.  Dammit, he’s just a kid, he shouldn’t be out there doing this shit.”

“I could help,” Zach says helpfully.  “I could nod when you lecture him.  What's his power, anyway?  The papers never say.”

“Zach,” Chris says seriously.  “If anything happened to you – I’d never be able to forgive myself.  _Never_.”

Zach feels his heart flutter.  “Are you going out tonight?” he asks.

“No,” Chris says firmly.

“You _are_ , aren’t you?  Take me with you.  Pleasepleasepleaseplease?”

“You just want to meet Perestroika and his crotchal region,” Chris says darkly.

Zach shakes his head.  “No.  Well, okay – yes.  But I also wanna see you in action.  Chris, I think – I think you’re awesome,” he says in a rush, hoping that his face isn’t as red as it feels.  “I won’t get in the way.  I promise.”

Chris stares at him.  “You think I’m awesome?”

“Well, yeah.  You don’t _have_ to fight crime.  You could just sit on your ass, or use your powers just for frying pancakes, but you don’t.  You try to help people.  And – and you don’t even get any credit for it, not Chris Pine.  Electric Blue gets all the credit.  That must be really tough.”  Zach takes a deep breath.  “So, yeah.  I think you’re _awesome_.”

Chris turns away, wiping at his eye surreptitiously and Zach hears a little fizzle noise like a flame sputtering in the rain.  “Thanks, man,” Chris says, turning back.  “I, uh.  I appreciate that.”

“So can I come?” Zach grins.

  
***

  
Zach takes a long time deciding what to wear for the rendezvous that night, but settles on jeans and a leather jacket.  Because leather is tough, and Chris told him a couple of other heroes would probably be there too because it’s their turn to do the night patrol.  Zach wants to make sure he impresses them, too.  When he turns up at the appointed corner where Chris said to meet, he can’t help feeling nervous.  Were jeans really the best option?  Maybe he should have gone for leather _pants_.

He’s so busy worrying if his skinny jeans make his ass look flat that he doesn’t notice the figure in the darkest corner of the alley behind him, watching him.

A flash of blue at the corner of his eye makes Zach turn his head, and he grins at Chris, walking casually down the street.  Chris has his costume on, and oh fuck, Zach thinks, yeah.  Chris is – built.  And he’s wearing that silver bandana half-mask over his eyes, which makes him look so damn sexy and mysterious that Zach feels his knees get a little weaker, and he wonders how that blue beam would feel pinpointed for just a split-second on his nipples, which is _really_ not something he should be thinking about in jeans this tight. 

Chris grins back, but then his face changes to horror.  Zach hears a _zip! zip!_ noise behind him from the alley and Chris is suddenly right in front of him, shoving him to the side. 

Zach hits his head somehow, and things go a bit fuzzy.  He hears fighting noises and another _zip_.  Then there’s a red and gold blur, and something black and silky streaks by too, and a lot of yelling, but the last thing he sees before he passes out are pinstripes and shiny black shoes disappearing straight up into the sky.

***

Zach wakes up on Chris’s bed.  He’s alone, but he can hear voices from the other room.  He sits up, his head aching, and waits to get his balance before he stands up.  He makes his way quietly down the hall and peeks around the wall.

Chris is sitting at the table, his head in his hands, and – holy hell, Perestroika is sitting on the couch in his red and gold outfit, his feet up on the coffee table, flicking through a magazine.  And then Zach nearly loses his shit completely, because pacing up and down the room in a black satin mask, all billowy black silk sleeves and a freaking _cape_ – that’s so totally old-school – is The Chosen One.

Zach stuffs all the fingers into his mouth that he possibly can.  This morning he had no idea that Chris had superpowers.  And now he’s eavesdropping on a heroic triumvirate. 

 _His life is fucking awesome._

“I still can’t get a name for him,” The Chosen One is saying.  “No one’s talking.  Maybe if you went to see Lady Luck –?”

Chris looks grim.  “If I have to go to Lindsay, I will,” he says.  “I don’t know if she’ll see me.  She can pick and choose her visitors in jail.  But _no one_ is going to hurt Zach.  Not on my watch.  No way, no how.”  Zach suddenly feels all squishy inside.

“Except you, slamming his head into dumpsters,” Perestroika snorts.  “Will you just screw him and get it over with?”  Zach gives a little gasp of astonishment.

The Chosen One whips his head around towards Zach’s corner, and Zach ducks back.

“I think they saw you,” says a voice in his other ear, and Zach shrieks.  It’s The Chosen One, edged up against the wall next to him on the other side.

“How did you –”

“Teleportation,” the man grins, and grabs his hand.  Zach heard a strange singing noise in his ears and then suddenly he’s sitting opposite Chris at the table.  He blinks twice, and then leans over and vomits up his stomach contents on the floor.

“ _Jesus_ , Cho,” Chris snaps.  “He’s probably got a goddamn concussion and you’re _teleporting_ him?”

“Sorry, I forgot.  Hey, kid!  Quit reading your skin mags and clean that up.”

Perestroika looks up with a pout, his brown ringlets forming a beatific halo around his face, but does as he’s told.  Chris helps Zach to the couch and then runs a dishcloth under the faucet in the kitchen.  He returns to wipe down Zach’s face carefully.  Zach finally feels like he might be able to open his eyes without another bout of upchucking, and looks straight into Chris’s baby blues.

“Are you okay?”

“I didn’t mean to throw up your pancakes,” Zach says.

“I…don’t think that was pancakes.”

“Definitely not pancakes,” Perestroika announces loudly from across the room.  He makes a few retching noises of his own from under the table, where he’s scrubbing.

“I think it was probably whatever you had for dinner,” Chris says to Zach, patting his arm.  “Don’t worry about it.  It’s fine.”

“It’s _not_ fine,” Perestroika protests.  “It’s _gross_.”  He’s probably right, Zach thinks.  He had tuna casserole for dinner.

“It’s.  Fine.”  Chris glares back at the kid, and Zach notices with interest that his eyes crackle a little with anger.

“Keep your mouth shut, and clean it up,” The Chosen One snaps, and Zach looks at him again.  He smiles at Zach.  “Sorry about all that,” he says.  He pulls off his mask.  “Friends?”  He holds out his hand.  “I’m John Cho, by the way.”

“You’re The Chosen One,” Zach whispers, and John shuffles a little, looks embarrassed.

“I was really young when I chose that name,” he says.  “I need to rebrand.  It’s a bit Jesus Christ Superstar.”

“You don’t age,” Zach says in wonder. 

John shrugs.  “Nope.  It’s kind of depressing, actually.”

“I didn’t know you could teleport too.”

“We try to keep some things quiet,” Chris says.  “To have an element of surprise when we fight villains.”

“Why the fuck was this moron even there?” Perestroika asks, emerging from under the table.  “You always tell _me_ , no sidekicks.”  Chris was right, Zach thinks with sudden irritation.  Perestroika’s crotchal region was nothing to write home about.

“Do as I say, not as I do,” Chris replies automatically, but he’s back to staring at Zach in concern.  “You look pale.  We wanted to take you to the hospital, but John thought the other side might have the ERs covered.  Whatever happened tonight – it seems to have been a set-up.”

Zach takes a second to notice that Chris has a light bandage around his upper arm.  “What happened to you?” he asks, reaching out to touch it.  Chris pulls away.

“He had a gun,” he says.

“Which,” John adds, “is _very_ significant.”

“It is?” Zach asks.

Chris nods.  “It’s got us wondering.  If he actually _has_ powers.”

“Oh.  Wait – oh my God, did you get _shot_?”  He struggles to sit up, but Chris holds him down.  Damn.  Chris is strong.

“No, just a graze,” he’s saying.  “I’m fine.  And John’s going to trace the bullet, see if he can find anything.”

“Shouldn’t the police do that?” Zach asks pragmatically.

All three superheroes look at him pityingly.

“Well, okay then,” Zach says.  Doesn’t he just feel stupid now.  “So what happened to Pinstripes?  I saw him – disappear.  Can he fly?”

John and Chris exchange Significant Looks.

“Pinstripes is as good a name as any for now,” John says.  He looks at Zach.  “And no.  He was winched up by something.  And Chris was too busy freaking out about you to fly after him.”

Zach takes a second for that to sink in.  “You – fly?” he asks Chris.  Chris throws an annoyed look at John, and Zach sees a few blue sparks escape his eyes.

“I hadn’t told him that part yet,” he says, his voice tight.

“But if you can teleport,” Zach says slowly to John, “why didn’t you just –”

“I can’t just teleport into the air, Zach,” John says sensibly.  “I’d fall.  And break all my bones.  It’s a bitch waiting for them to heal.  Takes as long as it does for you.”

“Oh.”

Perestroika bounces over, all curls and smiles.  “I set things on fire!” he says.  “With my mind.”

“Oh.  That sounds…useful.”

The kid looks annoyed.

“It’s cool,” Zach offers.  “I mean.  I imagine it comes in handy.  At…barbecues.”  He really doesn’t mean it to sound so patronizing, but he can’t think of many situations where raging fire would be a good thing.

“I can put _out_ fires too,” Perestroika grumbles.

“This is Anton, by the way,” Chris says, sounding tired.

“I thought you were Russian,” Zach says.  “But you sound American.”

“Russians are cooler, apparently,” John tells him with a grin.  “Hence the obsession.”

“Fuck you, American pig!” Anton says, in a guttural Russian accent.

“ _I_ am a citizen of the world,” John replies grandly.

“Look, can you two kindly fuck off now?” Chris says loudly.  “Let me have some time alone with my – with Zach?”

Anton wiggles his eyebrows suggestively and opens his mouth to say something, but John grabs him quickly.  “See ya,” he says, and teleports them both away.

“Thank Christ,” Chris mutters.  Zach realizes that Chris is exhausted.  “Zach, I’m so sorry.  It’s my fault you got hurt.  I pushed you too hard and you hit your head and –”

“No,” Zach says firmly.  “I promised I wouldn’t get in the way, and I totally did.”

“No, you didn’t,” Chris says quietly.  Without thinking, Zach reaches up to stroke Chris’s hair, and Chris freezes, shocked.

“Sorry,” Zach says awkwardly.  “You just looked like you could do with a bit of human contact.”

Chris bites his lip.  “I’m human,” he says plaintively.  “I’m human too.”

“I didn’t mean it like that,” Zach says softly.  He pulls one of Chris’s hands into his own.  Chris doesn’t yank it away, so Zach brings it up to his mouth and sucks down on his index finger.

“Jesus!” There’s an arc of blue light and the lamp across the room shatters.  Zach yelps, covers his head instinctively.  “Zach – oh God, Zach, did I hurt you?” Chris asks frantically.

“No,” Zach says slowly.  “Um.  I didn’t mean to freak you out.”

Chris looks mortified.

“I just thought –” Zach says.  “You seemed to be, maybe, I don’t know…Perestroika said you should just screw me and get it over with.”

Chris clears his throat.  “We’ve been friends for a long time, Zach,” he starts, and it’s clearly a rehearsed speech about why they shouldn’t fuck.

“I don’t care,” Zach says immediately.  “I mean, I _care_.  Obviously.  But I’ve wanted something more for almost as long as we’ve been friends.  I just…didn’t know how to say it.”

“It’s not just because you know I’m Electric Blue now?” Chris asks, looking over Zach’s head.

“No,” Zach says.  “No.”  He pulls Chris’s finger gingerly into his mouth again and sucks.  Nothing explodes.  Zach looks at Chris.  He’s squeezing his eyes shut tightly.  “Is this – not good?” Zach asks around his finger.

“It’s good,” Chris says quietly.  “But…”

“I trust you,” Zach says, pretending a confidence he doesn’t feel. 

“I was going to say, But we should get you to a doctor,” Chris says, but he smiles.  Opens his eyes.

“Oh.”

  
***

  
Zach is fine, the doctor says.  So is Chris, although he has to take a course of antibiotics.  They’ve been to a no-questions-asked walk-in center on the outskirts of the city, “Just in case Pinstripes really is watching the hospitals,” Chris says.  He sets his jaw, and Zach melts a little.  This superhero thing really is a turn-on, he has to admit.

“I’m _fine_ ,” he repeats, when they get back to his house.  Chris checks every room and every closet and every cupboard and under every bed.  Noah and Harold wake briefly, but go back to sleep almost immediately.  “You’re fine.  So can we, you know.  Pick up where we left off?”

“Zach, I think they’re going to target you now.  We’ll have to get the animals somewhere safe,” Chris says.

Zach gasps.  “No way!  They wouldn’t hurt them, would they?”

“Zach,” Chris says gently.  “They’re supervillains.  They'll kill your _houseplants_ if they can.”

“Oh, God.  I’ll call Joe.  He’s out of town right now, but –”

“Actually,” Chris says awkwardly, “I think maybe Joe should stay out of town for a while.  John can teleport Noah and Harold to him tomorrow.”

Zach stares at him.  “You’re really worried.”

Chris nods. 

“What about _your_ family?” Zach asks.

“They’re safe,” Chris says firmly.  “We all rotate watches on our families.  And now we’ll watch yours as well.”

“Do _they_ know, your families?  Who you are?”

“No.  It’s better that way.”

Chris changed for the doctor, but Zach thinks he looks even better in just a white v-neck and jeans than he did in his Electric Blue costume.  He walks up slowly and slides his arms around Chris’s waist.  “Let’s forget about that for a bit,” he suggests.  “I’ve been waiting so long to –”

“Zach, I can’t –”

“You’re not going to explode my head,” Zach grins.  “Unless – it’s only your eyes that shoot lasers, right?”

Chris colors slightly, but grins back.  “Yeah.  Just the eyes.”

“Then let me.”  He leans in to kiss, and Chris’s lips are all soft and warm under his own.  Chris opens his mouth to suck at his tongue and oh my God, Zach thinks, he’s about to blow Electric Goddamn Blue.  _And_ Chris Pine. 

His life?  Is _fucking awesome_.

They tug at each other’s clothes, and Chris’s shirt rips a little, but he just laughs, and Zach’s jeans won’t come off until Chris pushes him down on the ground and yanks hard.  Zach has never been more turned on in his life, he thinks, until he gets to Chris’s briefs and sees he outline of his erection straining against the cotton.  They manage to make it to Zach’s bed and Chris flops down, pulling Zach on top of him to kiss ferociously at his mouth again.

But Zach is determined, and pulls away, dragging his tongue down Chris’s torso until he gets back to those white cotton briefs, which are just adorable, because what self-respecting superhero wears Calvin Kleins these days?  Chris groans so loudly when Zach pulls down the elastic a little to kiss the tip of his cock that Zach thinks he might have _hurt_ him, and stops for a second. 

“No, it’s fine, it’s fine,” Chris pants.  “Please.”

And if there’s one thing Zach never thought he’d hear, it’s a superhero _begging_ for his mouth.  But he’s not a superhero right now, he’s just Chris, and Zach has wanted him for years, so he’s going to savor this as long as he can. 

“Ask again,” he says, and Chris clenches a hand in his hair.

“Please.  Please please please…Zach, come on, suck me –”

Any more of this and Zach will be coming himself before anything else happens, so he forgets about savoring the moment and swallows down on Chris’s cock.  He tries to make it good for Chris, because God knows, if it’s been two years he _deserves_ the blow job of his life, but Chris is bucking around so wildly that there are a lot more teeth involved and a lot less technique than Zach intends.  Chris doesn’t seem to mind at all though; he’s pretty much sobbing by the time he comes, hard and _so_ loud, which is gratifying, and Zach swallows it all down as best he can.

Chris is gasping like he’s drowning, his eyes shut tightly, so Zach feels a bit weird aiming at his chest when he comes, but the need is too strong.  Watching his come streaking all over Chris’s skin is the most beautiful thing Zach has ever seen, until Chris opens his eyes, staring desperately at the ceiling, and they are glowing brightly like twin blue stars.

“Wow,” Zach says, which is kind of inarticulate, but there’s nothing else he can really say.  He half-expects the blue beams and subsequent falling plaster from the ceiling, but Chris’s eyes slowly fade, looking less unearthly and more surprised every second.

“Oh my God,” he says eventually.  Zach slides up his body and looks straight into his eyes.  Chris smiles, a slow smile that lights up his face and makes his eyes crinkly, and Zach kisses him, hard.

“Yeah, okay,” Chris says afterwards.  “That was…”

“Yeah,” Zach says smugly.  “That _was_.”  He shuffles Chris around so they can snuggle, wipes him down a bit with the comforter.

“Thanks,” Chris says.  He sounds totally out of it.  “Seriously.  I didn’t think anyone would ever…I _really_ didn’t think _you_ would ever…”

“Can we sleep now?”  Zach is so comfortable, his nose tucked in to Chris’s neck.

“Yeah.  Yeah, let’s do that.”  Chris starts snoring a few minutes after he drops off, and Zach takes a second to smirk at a superhero snoring before he falls asleep too.

Zach dreams about Electric Blue waiting in the alleyway, but it’s definitely Chris this time; no mask.  His face lights up when he sees Zach.  But there’s a shadow coming out of the alley behind him, and Chris doesn’t seem to notice, even though Zach’s yelling and screaming at him to look.  The shadow engulfs him and the last thing Zach sees are his shining blue eyes going dark.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chris is a superhero. Zach wants to be his sidekick. Meanwhile, a dark force is rising in Los Angeles...

Once Harold and Noah are safely ensconced with Zach’s family in Hawaii – and teleportation is awesome if only for avoiding customs, Zach thinks – Chris takes him to the Secret Headquarters. 

“I never thought it really existed,” Zach says in awe.  The papers talk about it a lot, but there’s never been any definitive proof.  But here it is.  It’s a large cavern, half walled with metal sheets.  There are a lot of computers, and cars and motorcycles, and things that look like alien weaponry.  Chris has told him that it was all built on John’s dime.  Being over four hundred years old has at least some monetary advantages.  Chris insisted on blindfolding him to take him to HQ, not that Zach was complaining, so he has no idea where it is.  But that just makes it even more cool.

“It’s under the La Brea Tar Pits,” says a bored voice from behind them.

They whirl around, and Chris makes a growly noise.  “What are _you_ doing here?” he asks.

“Ohmigod,” Zach breathes.  “It’s Avatar!”

“She’s a telepath, so watch your thoughts,” Chris reminds him.  “And also?  She’s really annoying.”

“I’m _right here_ , Blue,” she snaps back.

“Yeah, and that’s my problem.  I thought John revoked your pass after your last swap to the other side?”

Avatar shrugs.  “Eh.  Whaddya gonna do.  Perestroika issued me a new one.  He’s a soft target, Blue.  You need to watch out for that.”  She flicks back her long black ponytail and puts her hands on her hips.

Chris folds his arms and glares, his eyes crackling.

“You are so fucking hot right now,” Zach murmurs to him, and Chris gives a little smirk.

“So, boys,” Avatar says.  “What’s going on?  I hear about this new supervillain, and no one even bothers to call?  What am I, chopped liver now?”  She bats her eyelashes and Zach grins stupidly at her.

“You’re really pretty,” he says.  Chris whacks him on the arm.  “So are you,” he adds quickly, looking at Chris.

Avatar strolls around the large console in the middle of the room, trailing a delicate hand over the controls and flicking a glance over her shoulder to see the effect.  Zach has to admit that her leather outfit is incredible.  “I like your daggers,” he says.  They’re mounted, crossed, at her back.  “They look like you mean business.”

She hoists herself up to sit on the console, her butt prodding against levers.  “I _do_ mean business,” she says, smiling.

“Zoë, why are you even here?” Chris asks.

She shrugs.  “I don’t like the sound of Pinstripes,” she says.  “New York is so _grim_ , you know?  What I like about LA is that the villains don’t take it so seriously.  But this new guy, I don’t know.  He sounds like trouble.  I hear he’s not from around here.”

“I made up that name,” Zach says proudly.  “Pinstripes.  That was me.”

“Good for you,” Avatar says admiringly, arching an eyebrow.  “Blue here should strike you a commemoration medal.”

“Yeah!” Zach says. “That sounds really – oh.  You’re just fucking with me.”

“I _told_ you she’s annoying,” Chris says.

Avatar slips down off the console.  “ _Look_ , Blue,” she says.  “I’m willing to work on your side for this project.  Either you want me or not.  If not, I guess I’ll go solo and try not to fuck up your sorry-ass attempts at stopping Pinstripes.”

Chris sighs.  “Fine.  Yeah.  Okay.”  When he sees Zach’s surprise, he explains, “Zoë’s really good at the strategic stuff.  We’re more…operationally focused, the rest of us.”

“Big-picture thinking,” Zoë nods.  “My specialty.  These guys prefer to go in and hit things.  And Zachary, if you really want to try that thing you’re thinking with Blue, you’ll need a lot of lube and a _very_ large –”

“ _Ohmygodshutup_!” Zach splutters.  “I wasn’t _even_ –”

“Never mind,” she grins.  “I was just leaving anyway.  I’ll be back tonight for a team planning session,” she tells Chris.  “Make sure you have one of those electric whiteboards you can print from.”  She considers.  “And an iPad.”

“Can you trust her?” Zach asks after she’s gone.  “The papers never seem to know which side she’s on.”

“Neither do we.  Neither does _she_ , for that matter.  But yeah.  Once Avatar gives her word, she won’t break it.  And what she said just now makes sense.  She hates the New York scene, and if Pinstripes _is_ from there…Her boyfriend got killed by a supervillain in NYC, just before she got her powers.”

“How did she get them?” Zach asks, curious. 

“She’s never said.”

“How do you know she’s not just making lucky guesses, then?”

“ _Do_ you want to try something requiring a lot of lube and a very large –?”

“Jesus Christ, okay, alright!” Zach says, alarmed.  “I believe her.”

  
***

  
Zach finds it a little irritating that he has to go sit with Perestroika in the corner that evening, as an _observer_. 

“Welcome to the kids’ table,” Anton snarks at him.

“Yeah.  Hi.”  Zach wonders why the hell Chris even took this little punk under his wing, and then hopes it’s not because he had a _thing_ for Anton.

“Nope,” Zoë calls to him from across the room.  “Blue just felt sorry for him.”

Zach’s face flares red as all the superheroes turn to stare at him.  Anton scowls.

“Alright, down to business,” Zoë says, and all eyes return to her.

There are a whole bunch of superheroes at the table, and some of them Zach doesn’t even recognize from the papers.  Zach wasn’t introduced to them when he and Chris came in.  He guesses they’re not big on politeness.  He knows Zoë, Chris and John, of course.  And then there’s Viking Strike, Madam Ryder, Vulcano, The Horseman…he doesn’t know most of the rest.  But there are a lot of them.

“I thought Vulcano and The Horseman retired,” Zach whispers to Anton.  He’s looking through another porno.  “ _Ew_ , dude.  Give it a rest.”

“Nothing else to do,” Anton says flatly.  “Unless you’re gonna puke again, then I’ll have the privilege of cleaning it up.  Are you gonna puke?”  He stares at Zach.

“No,” Zach says defensively.

“Then leave me alone.”

Zach glares, but Anton isn’t looking at him.  “You’re a lot cooler on TV,” he says.

“And you’re just some sidekick wannabe.  Don’t get above yourself.”

Zach huffs, and moves his chair a little bit away.  He tries to understand Zoë’s strategic message, but there are a lot of acronyms he doesn’t know, and Anton definitely won’t help him out if he asks.

“So that’s how we draw them into this area,” Zoë says at last, circling a spot on the large wall map with a laser pointer.  “And then we strike, as per my previous discussion regarding the attack plan.  Questions?”

Chris raises a hand, and Zach tries to look attentive.  “I’m not seeing a role for Perestroika here,” he says. 

Zoë sniffs.  “This is for experienced heroes only.  Anton isn’t ready to join in something like this.”

Anton doesn’t even look up from the centerfold, but Zach can tell he’s listening.

“But,” Chris says, “I really think he could help with the –”

“No,” Zoë snaps.  “And you need to shut up too before I blackball _you_ , Mr. I Can’t Jerk Off Without Destroying Things.”

Zach can see Chris’s eyes spark dangerously and bites his lip.

“Avatar,” Vulcano says calmly.  “You are a guest here, and while your strategic directions are unparalleled, they _are_ only advice.”

The Chosen One starts clapping loudly.  “Right on, Leonard!” he says.  Zoë whips her hair around and folds her arms.  She looks pissed.

Chris stands up and addresses the group.  “I’m just saying that I think Perestroika is ready.  We’ve been sidelining him for a long time now.  Just because he’s young doesn’t mean he can’t help.  And I’ll be there.  I’ll have his back.  And – and so will Zach.”

“Your new sidekick is _definitely_ not coming,” Zoë snaps.  “He doesn’t even have a name yet.  _Or_ a costume.”

“ _Avatar_ ,” The Horseman says heavily, and she sits down, mumbling.  The Horseman stands, walks around to Chris and pats his shoulder.  “Electric Blue is one of the finest of us,” he says to the table.  “And the most dedicated, I would think.  It would be wise to listen to him.”

Zach perks up then, and so does Anton.

“Thanks, Bill,” Chris says eagerly.  “Zach could do comms.”

“Comms?” Zach mutters.  “Fucking _comms_?  Jesus.”

“Suck it up, baby,” Anton says, smirking.

“And Perestroika should be with the first strike team,” Chris continues.  Anton gives a little fist pump _yeah_.  “Only a few of the other side are actually flame-retardant.  He can take out a lot of them at one time.  And they won’t be expecting him, because he’s never come with us before on a big mission like this.”

“What _ever_ ,” Zoë says.  “Can we get on with the timeline planning now?”

“Are there other sidekicks?” Zach asks Anton quietly.  He shrugs.

“Not really.  Mostly they die, so it’s kind of uncool to have them these days.  _I_ wouldn’t have one.  But I guess Blue is a dork like that.”

“Oh.”  Zach feels scared for just a second, but then he catches Chris’s eyes, glowing with anticipation, and he starts getting excited.

  
***

  
“What about…Zach Attack!”

“Uh…”

“Mister Zee?”

“Zach –”

“QZ?  See, like, it’s my initials but the other way around?  Or is that a bit too James Bond?”  Zach ponders.

“Zach, hold up a second, will you? Stop dancing around the room like that.” 

They’re back in Chris’s apartment, and Chris is sitting on the couch.  Zach is whirling around, too excited to sit still.

“What?” Zach says, twirling dangerously near an ornament.

“You’re not _actually_ going to be my sidekick,” Chris says apologetically.

Zach stops, mid-twirl.  “What?”

“I just said that to those guys so I could bring you with me.  At least this way I’ll know you’re safe.”

Zach feels irrationally angry.  “As long as _you_ don’t go shoving me into dumpsters,” he snaps.

“That’s not fair,” Chris says, hurt.  “That was an accident.”

“No fucking way,” Zach says.  “I’m your sidekick, whether you like it or not.”  He folds his arms firmly and glares.  Chris sighs.  “I know, I know,” Zach says, relenting a little.  “Anton told me, most sidekicks die.  But I won’t.  I’ll be the best sidekick _ever_.  I promise.”

“Zach, man, I know you wanna be involved and all, but –”

“Please don’t treat me like Anton,” Zach says coldly.  “I’m not a child.  And speaking of whom, if that little bitch gets to be in on the action, so do I.”

“Anton is…Zach, he had a difficult childhood.”

“Well, who fucking didn’t?”

Chris tightens his mouth.  “Anton had it worse than most.  He’s an orphan.  His parents died right after they migrated here from Russia, and he’s been living on the streets ever since.  And I’m sure you can imagine – with his power – well, he hasn’t had a lot of friends in his life.”

“Way to make me feel like a jerk,” Zach mutters.

“I was kind of hoping you might get along with him,” Chris says pointedly.

“Say I’m your sidekick and I promise I’ll be an awesome big brother to Anton.”

“Fine, okay?  Fine.  You can be my sidekick.  But you have to do exactly what I say, at all times.  And also, that’s a big negatory to Zach Attack.  That’s the dumbest pseudonym I’ve ever heard.”

“Because Electric Blue is so filled with awesome?”

“Why don’t we go to bed now before we start fighting?” Chris suggests. 

“But it’s only ten thirt- oh.  _Oh_.  Yeah, okay.”  Zach smiles, flutters his eyelashes.  “Do I have to do exactly what you say in bed, too?”  But Chris blushes in a very appealing manner.  “Oh, _okay_ , I see how it is.”  Zach smirks.

“Stop – would you just – I just meant, until my eyes –” Chris stammers.  “Oh, come _on_ , let’s go.”

Once Chris is all naked and squirmy beneath him, Zach takes a second to appreciate the fact that he can be so In Charge when it comes to hero stuff, but so beautifully pliant in bed.  Zach is still a bit nervous about the eyes, but like last time, he doesn’t have to worry about them so much if he’s below waist perimeter.  But Chris starts tossing around on the bed the second he feels Zach’s breath on his balls, and Zach grabs his hips.

“No,” he says.  “Stay still.  It’ll be better that way.  Just relax.”

“Sorry,” Chris says.  “It’s just…”  He has his eyes shut tight again.

“I know,” Zach says.  “I know.  But it’ll be even better if you just hold _still_.”  Because goddamn it if he’s gonna do a half-assed job again tonight.  “Hey, do you have any handcuffs?” he asks.

“Gaaah!”  Two white-blue beams zap at the picture hanging on the wall, and the glass shatters.  “ _No_!”

“Sorry, sorry,” Zach says hurriedly.  “I just thought it might help you keep still.  So no dirty talk, either?”

“Not.  Right.  Now,” Chris says through clamped teeth.

“Okay, well, uh.  Just relax.  We can clean up the glass later.”

Chris heaves a big sigh and tries to compose himself.  “Okay,” he says after a minute.  “I’m relaxed.”

Zach doesn’t like to brag – much – but he _does_ give a fine blow job.  He slides his tongue around for a while without taking Chris’s cock into his mouth, but hearing a faint crackly noise from Chris’s eyes makes him decide that hot and heavy and _quick_ is probably a better option than getting his hair singed off.  Having made this executive decision, he starts using his hands too, squeezing his fingers firmly.

It takes him a few minutes to realize that they’re both floating halfway between the bed and the ceiling, and – damn.  It puts him off his rhythm for a second.  But it’s also totally incredible, like sucking dick underwater – only better, because he can breathe.  He slows down a bit, teases more, and things seem to be going okay.  No explosions, no burns…

Zach decides to pull out all the stops – that corkscrew move with his tongue that everyone seems to like, combined with heavy suction – and Chris starts making this _noise_ , like he’s half-ecstatic and half-pained and it doesn’t take long before he’s flooding all down Zach’s throat. 

He looks up curiously after swallowing, and Chris’s eyes are doing that glow-thing again.  It’s really very beautiful.  Zach pulls himself up Chris’s body to have a close-up look, and catches his breath – Chris looks like he’s in a trance. 

“Are you okay?” he asks, but Chris doesn’t answer until his eyes fade a little.  They descend slowly back to the bed.

“What?” Chris asks.

“You just looked…out of it.  Also, holy fucking hell, that was amazing.”

Chris blinks, and the glow dies.  “I could do you now,” he suggests almost shyly.

“Um…” Zach tries to think of a tactful way to say that he doesn’t want his stomach burned out.

Chris flushes.  “I’ll keep my eyes closed,” he mutters.

“No, yeah,” Zach says immediately.  “Yeah, that would be great.  More than great.  If you want.  I mean, if you think you can…”

“I can control it,” Chris says, his tone brittle.  “Otherwise I wouldn’t be allowed to sit…”

“With the big kids?” Zach grins.  And thankfully, Chris smiles back.

“Yeah, with the big kids.”

“That was nice of you tonight, with Anton.  Standing up for him like that.”

Chris smiles again.  “He’s a good guy.”  He turns his face to kiss Zach.  “So are you.  Lie back.”

  
***

  
But over the course of the next few days, Zoë manages to talk around the other superheroes and gets Anton taken off the first strike team.  He’s really pissed, Zach can tell, but doesn’t say anything, just glares a lot.  Chris took him aside to talk to him once, Zach saw, but even then he didn’t look any less angry afterwards.  He’s still allowed to come in as back-up in the second wave, so Zach guesses it’s not all bad news for him.  He’s just being a brat.

Zoë jams a headset hard into Zach’s ear, and he yelps.  “Watch it!” he snaps.

“Pay attention!”

“I am!  You don’t need to _maim_ me.”

“You are annoying,” she explains.  “Therefore I want to hurt you.”

“I’m not annoying!”  His voice echoes all around the Secret Headquarters.

“Oh, honey, you have no idea.”  She turns to Chris, hands on her hips.  “He doesn’t even have the acronyms down yet!  What the hell kind of comms guy is he going to be?”

“Neither do I,” Chris says, sounding confused.  “What’s this – DWATYAAT?”

“Do What Avatar Tells You At All Times,” Zoë says sweetly. 

Chris rolls his eyes, but Zach wishes he’d zap Zoë’s Louboutins instead.  She’s been really horrible to him in what was _supposed_ to be a training session.  All the acronyms and code words she’s shoved in front of his eyes in the last few days have him seeing double, and he’s pretty damn sure the comms system doesn’t have to be so complicated.

And fucking Anton smirking at him from across the room doesn’t help, either.

“You could do comms,” Zach snarls at him.  “If you think you’re all that.”

Anton makes a face.

“Yes,” Zoë says thoughtfully.  “Yes, maybe Anton –”

“ _No_ ,” Chris says.  “Perestroika is second-wave attack.  Zach is comms.  No discussion.”

“Does he have a name yet?” Zoë asks scornfully.  “Let me guess.  Zach Attack?”

“ _No_ ,” Zach snaps.  Zoë laughs.

“Can’t hide from me, babydoll,” she says.  “How about Where’s Waldo?”

“Screw _you_ , my costume is awesome!”  It’s just a prototype, but he thinks it’s fairly representative of a sidekick _and_ his own personality: a striped red and white tank and skinny leather pants, plus an awesome beanie that Chris cringed at.  But what would Chris know about fashion?  He wears sky-blue spandex, for God’s sake. 

Zach has also insisted on wearing the glasses instead of a mask, because when he tried on Chris’s he had an allergic reaction to the PVC.  And also because the glasses look sexy on him.  He _makes_ them work.

“You really, really don’t,” Zoë says sympathetically, and Zach opens his mouth to bitch her out.

“Alright, _enough_ ,” Chris snaps.  He checks his watch.  “I’m seeing Lady Luck soon, and I want Zach and Perestroika to come with me.”

Zoë looks outraged.  “The _training schedule_ does not allow for –”

“They’re coming with me, Avatar, so get over it,” Chris says.

“–your booty calls,” she finishes.

“Are you jealous?” Zach asks, grinning.  Zoë grabs for him, but Chris shoves her back telekinetically.  Anton claps and hoots.

“Zach, shut it.  Zoë, control yourself.  Anton – just stop doing whatever it is you’re doing.”  Chris sounds tired again.  “I swear to God, I did _not_ get into the superhero business to be a babysitter.  So can you all just grow the fuck up?”

Chris looks really exhausted, Zach thinks.  He’s been running himself ragged trying to gather everything on Zoë’s endless lists, and the other heroes don’t seem to help much, not that Zach can see anyway.

Zoë is staring at him, and Zach can tell she’s reading his mind.  “Zach’s right,” she says.  “Sorry, Blue.  I’ll behave.  For now.”

“Sorry,” Anton mumbles.

Zach stands up and kisses Chris.  “Me too,” he says.  “Do you have to get changed?”

“No, it’s plainclothes for this,” Chris says.  “ _You_ can get changed if you like.  No?  Sure?  Okay.”  He sighs.  “John’s coming to teleport us to save time.  Afterwards – Zach, you can come back here for more training.”

“Great,” Zach mumbles.

“And Perestroika, we’ll do some more field training together.”

“Great!” Anton cheers.

“And Zach – Zoë’s right,” Chris says quietly, taking him aside.  “You _do_ need to work out a name.”

“Can’t _you_ just name me?”

“No.  It has to come from you.  It’s your identity.  It’s who you are.”

Zach sighs.  “Then quit vetoing my suggestions!”

“Quintastic Man?  Really?”

“Fine, fine.  I’ll think of something.”  John appears next to them suddenly, and Zach jumps.  “That’s still not cool,” he says, annoyed.  John has taken to scaring him like this since Zach joined the group.

“It’s funny, though,” John grins.  “Okay, boys, all aboard the Cho-Cho Train.  No hands below the waist, Zach, thanks all the same.”

Before Zach can even take a breath to retort, they’re teleporting.

  
***

  
“If Lady Luck is a supervillain, shouldn’t there be a few more guards around here?” Zach asks nervously.  They’re waiting in the jail for an escort.  “Shouldn’t she be in a maximum security prison with razor wire and stuff?”

“Lindsay…”  Chris trails off.  “She was only convicted of some minor offences,” he says eventually.  “And she’s not a supervillain anymore.”  Anton is trying to see if his head will fit through the bars on the inner gate.  It won’t.  Chris gives a little sigh, and looks the other way.

“You mean she’s reformed?”  Zach frowns.  He’s never read anything like that in the papers.

“No.  She lost her powers.”

“Wow.  Really?  That can happen?”

“To her, yes.”

“How?”

“Zach.  Please.  Can you stop asking questions?”

“I’m just taking an interest,” Zach grumbles.  Chris looks on edge, though, and it’s making him feel unsettled too.

“And by the way,” Chris says.  “Don’t mention that you’re my sidekick, okay?  Don’t talk about sidekicks at all.”

Zach is going to ask another question, but before he can, their escort arrives.  He shows them to the visiting room, which to Zach’s horror is just a bunch of formica-topped tables and plastic chairs.  He was expecting glass walls and phones.

Lady Luck is sitting at one of the tables, staring at the wall.  She does _not_ look like her pictures, Zach thinks.  Her hair is straggly and a weird colorless blonde, and her eyes are hard.  The papers mostly ran the glamour shots of her, all fiery red hair and kissy-lips.  She also looks a lot younger than he imagined.

“Lindsay, this is Zach and Anton,” Chris introduces them, before sitting down.  “Thanks for seeing us.”

“You got any cigarettes?” she asks.  Chris shakes his head.

“You can have mine,” Zach says awkwardly.  He slides a packet across the table to her and she stares at him.

“Thanks,” she says eventually.  “I guess.  At least they’re not cloves.”

Chris is giving him an _I thought you quit?_ look, and he figures there will be A Conversation about this later, but Lady Luck looks slightly happier.

“Lindsay, we were wondering if you’ve heard anything about a new villain in town.”

She blows smoke rings towards him and shrugs.  “How would I know anything, stuck in here?  And even if I did, why would I tell you?”

“Because we were friends, once,” Chris says patiently.

She gives him a speculative look.  “That was a long, long time ago.  I’m not who I was, Christopher, not anymore.  My luck ran out a while back.  So, no.  I haven’t heard anything.”

“We were authorized,” Chris starts, and clears his throat.  “If you have any information, we could get you out of here a bit earlier.  For good behavior.”

More smoke rings.

“What would I do out there?” she says at last.  “I’m powerless.  I have a record.  I don’t have anyone _waiting_ for me.”  Zach frowns.

“That’s not true,” Chris says softly.  Zach frowns harder.  “And besides, we both know you could get your powers back.”

Lady Luck slams her hands down on the table.  Zach and Anton jump, but Chris just looks mildly back at her.  “I wouldn’t get within thirty feet of that bitch before I was dead on my feet, and we both fucking know it.”

“I would help,” Chris says simply.

Lady Luck looks shocked, and then starts laughing.  “Pretty damn sure you weren’t authorized to offer _that_ , Christopher.”

Chris shrugs.  “That’s my personal offer to you, Lindsay.  You can take it or leave it.  But I hope you take it.”

Zach holds his breath while Lady Luck thinks.

“Alright,” she says eventually.  “I don’t know much.  He’s not American.  I heard some talk he might be Australian or English, or even South African.  All the LA supervillains are creaming themselves over him.  He’s the Next Big Thing, definitely more evil than your average Cali villain.  And I heard that even the New Yorkers are gaining some respect for him.”

“Linds,” Chris says urgently, leaning forward.  “What’s his power?”

“I’m sorry, Chris,” she says, and she actually does look sorry.  “I don’t know.  No one seems to know.”

“A name?”

“All I’ve heard is Pinstripes.”

“Hey, awesome,” Zach says happily.  He’s about to explain his genius to Lady Luck, but Chris kicks him under the table.

“Thanks, Lindsay,” Chris says.  “I’ll get the release process started as soon as I can.”

Lady Luck crushes out her cigarette.  “Whatever,” she says.

“Guys, can you give us a second?” Chris asks.  “Go wait in the office for me.”

Zach really doesn’t want to, but he goes with Anton.

“They used to bang,” Anton tells him while they wait, grinning wickedly.

“They did not,” Zach says automatically.

“Did too.”

“Oh, go shove your head through the bars again.”

“Doesn’t fit.”

“I’ll _make_ it fucking fit.”

The opposite door opens, and a guard comes in.  “You have to come with me,” he says to Zach.  “Need you to sign out.”

“We already did,” Zach says.

“No – this is another form.  New process.”

Zach shrugs, and follows the guard.  “You coming?” he says to Anton.

“He doesn’t need to,” the guard says.  “You can sign for the whole party.”

“Oh.  Okay.”  Zach follows him out, hoping hard that Chris isn’t making out with Lady Luck in the visiting room.

  
***

  
Zach is dreaming again.  He sees Zoë, whirling like a mini-hurricane, her daggers flashing lights as she takes down a villain.  The Horseman is punching every enemy he can reach, while Vulcano is dropping them with refined squeezes to the neck.

Zach looks for Chris, but he can’t see him.  For a minute he thinks it’s the Secret Headquarters, but there are no metal sheet walls and no fancy gadgets.  Just an echoey, black cave somewhere under the ground.

Zach moves forward into the battle, swords and rays and thrown objects passing through him like he’s a ghost.  And then he sees a flash of blue light from across the cavern – it’s Chris.  But by the time Zach catches sight of him again, Chris is on the ground.  His eyes are fluttering closed, and his costume is torn and stained with blood.

Zach wakes up with a jerk.

“What the fuck…”  He’s in a stone cell, lit only by a torch flame from a sconce on the wall outside.  The bars across the front are old and much thicker than at the jail.  There’s a cup of water near his head, which he only notices after he sits up carefully.  Before he can really think it through, he grabs it and downs it, and then starts hoping it wasn’t drugged.

He thinks back.  Following a guard.  Thinking he needed to sign something.  Then – black.

“Finally awake, baby?” coos a voice from outside the cell, and Zach makes out a figure in the dark.  She walks forward, swaying seductively, and winks at him.  She has deep red curls and is dressed in an emerald catsuit.  Zach wonders for a second why so many of these heroes and villains insist on skintight clothes.  At least his outfit leaves a little to the imagination.

“Who are you?” he croaks, and coughs.

“I’m Lady Luck,” she says, giving a brilliant smile.

“What?  No you’re not.”

“Oh, but I am.”  She flicks her fingers and a rainbow snakes out from her hand to whip-snap him on the end of his nose.

“ _Ow_!”

“Just proving my point.”

Zach rubs his nose and glares at her.  “I saw Lady Luck.  In jail.  You aren’t her.”

“ _She_ isn’t Lady Luck anymore,” the woman says, giving a self-satisfied smile.

Zach begins to understand.  “I’m Zach,” he says slowly.  “What’s your name?”

“Lady Luck.”

“I mean your _real_ name.”

“Lady Fucking Luck.  Did I stutter?”

Zach tries to rationalize the situation.  He’s not dead, which is a plus.  And if he’s locked in a cell, it means the villains are keeping him alive for some reason.  Which _also_ means that she probably won’t kill him anytime soon.  And she _might_ have a key.  It’s a bit tenuous, but he’s a sidekick now.  He has to try.

He looks around the cell and thinks about his dream again, and the horrible fear burning in his throat when he saw Chris hurt.  Carefully, he stands up and starts to move closer to the bars.  “Lady Luck, huh?  That’s not really your name, though, is it?  If you stole it?  It’s supposed to come from you and be unique.”

“What would _you_ know?” she says crossly.

“I’ve been having trouble coming up with a name of my own,” he admits.  She raises her eyebrow.  “I’m a sidekick,” he adds.

“I’m Rachel,” she says abruptly.

“Hi, Rachel.”  She doesn’t reply. 

He takes a deep breath.  “Soooo.  You took Lady Luck’s powers?”  he asks.  Rachel nods.  “That wasn’t very nice of you.”

She looks at him like he’s an idiot.  “Hello?  Supervillain?”

“Well, still,” Zach protests.  “Didn’t you have any powers of your own?  Were you jealous?”

She stalks very close to the bars and Zach has to admire her beauty.  She also looks completely insane.  It’s a little unnerving.  But she hasn’t noticed how he’s been getting closer to her.  “I would _never_ be jealous of that stupid bitch,” she spits.

“I don’t know…you seem kinda jealous,” Zach says, and holds on to the bars.

She actually jabs her finger through the bars to poke him in the chest as she speaks.  “You.  Don’t.  Know.  Shit.”

Zach seizes her wrist.  They have an awkward shoving match, and Zach gets his face slammed into the bars a couple of times, but he holds on desperately, trying to keep away from the occasional rainbow whip she sends out.  They sting, but that’s all.  But the more they struggle, the more he realizes that there’s no place to really _keep_ a key, not in her outfit. 

Still, it’s satisfying to pull at her hair and whack her wrist-bone into the metal bar.

What stops them is a sudden blaze of fire in the air right above them.  They both pull away frantically, trying to shield themselves from falling firedrops.

Zach looks up, sees a familiar red and gold suit.  “Alright, Anton!  Way to come through!”  He grins at Rachel.  “You are so fucked right now.”

But Rachel is laughing, which even for a crazy person seems like a strange reaction, Zach thinks. 

“Shut up, Rachel,” Anton says dully.  “And get out of here.  Pinstripes wants you.  He needs some luck.”

“Wait, what?” Zach says.  Rachel smirks at him and takes off at a run, back down the dark corridor.  Anton folds his arm and looks at Zach.  “ _What_ is going on?” Zach asks, but he has a horrible feeling in his gut.

“The fuck do you think?” Anton asks.

“Anton –”

“It’s _Perestroika_ , and if you say that other name again I will burn you alive.”  He looks angry enough to do it, too, so Zach phrases his next words carefully.

“Perestroika.  What are you doing?”

“Something I should have done from the start.  I was never cut out to be a hero.  Blue tried to convince me, and I didn’t want to – to _disappoint_ him.  But they all treat me like a kid.  They wouldn’t even let me stay in the first strike, which is like, the only place my power _fits_.  On the good side, anyway.  What kind of hero starts raging infernos?”  His eyes are starting to water and he takes a big sniff.  “So fuck them.  And fuck you too.  I’m a villain now.  I have been ever since Avatar took me off first strike.  If they don’t fucking want me, I’ll hang with someone who does.”

“But…what about Chris?”

Anton shrugs.  “As long as he stays out of my way he won’t get hurt.”

“You would hurt him?  Really?”

There’s a long pause and then Anton turns around sharply.  “I have to go.”

Something occurs to Zach.  “Why didn’t Zoë notice?” he asks.  “Why didn’t she realize you’d turned?”

“Blue taught me to shield my thoughts from her,” Anton says grudgingly.  “It was…one of the first things he taught me.”  He starts walking away.

Zach remembers, ashamed, what he told Chris only a few nights ago.  _Say I’m your sidekick and I promise I’ll be an awesome big brother to Anton_.  He thinks about everything he’s said to Anton since that night, and…none of it has been nice.  Zach even teased him about hanging around all the time, and he remembers how hurt Anton looked when he thought Zach wasn’t watching him anymore.  Oh, _man_.  Zach feels like such a total jerk.

“Wait!” he calls.  Anton half-turns.  “It’s not too late.  Let me out and we can escape together.”

But Anton shakes his head.  “It’s definitely too late.”

Zach summons up all his courage.  “Perestroika.  _Anton_ ,” he says, and tries not to cringe back from any impending fireballs.  “I’m sorry.  You’re right.  They should have treated you better.  _I_ should have treated you better.  I’m sorry.  Come back and let us try to do better.”

Anton looks like his heart is breaking, and for a second Zach thinks he’ll relent.  But then his mouth closes in a firm line.  “No.”

Zach says, “You _know_ Chris will come for me.”

Anton sighs.  “That’s what Pinstripes is counting on.”  He looks back over his shoulder.  “I’ll leave the torch on for you.  Pinstripes told me to put it out, but…I’ll say I forgot.”

“Thanks,” Zach whispers, and watches Anton until he fades into the darkness.  His heart is hammering in his chest and he’s finding it hard to breathe. 

 _That’s what Pinstripes is counting on._

“Chris, oh God.  _Chris_.  Don’t do it, just leave me here.  Stay away.”  He knows it’s pointless.  No matter how hard he thinks it, Chris is not going to get a telepathic message from him.  It’s _pointless_ , and he’s _useless_ , stuck in some cell with no way out and no way to warn Chris.

He’s never wished so hard for a power in his whole life.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chris is a superhero. Zach wants to be his sidekick. Meanwhile, a dark force is rising in Los Angeles...

Zach finds very quickly that there’s not a lot to do in a dank dungeon cell.  He checks the bars, checks the bricks – no way out.  Shaking the bars of the cell just makes a really loud noise that echoes painfully back at him.  He has no idea how much time is passing, although he spends a little time counting it out.  That gets old after six minutes and thirty-nine seconds, so he decides he might as well rest and save his strength while he waits for something to happen. 

He sits down on the ground and wraps his legs into the lotus position.  At least meditating might help pass the time.  But after a while, he starts to think he can see things, fleeting glimpses…Zoë, lecturing the superheroes again, but this time she has color-coded pins on a map, showing fighting positions.  Most of the superheroes look bored.

The picture changes, and he sees a well-manicured hand caressing a large gun.  A platinum and diamond cufflink sparkles up at Zach.  It’s lodged in a crisp white shirt cuff peeking out from a pinstriped suit.  He hears words, very faintly.  _Caesar.  Cupid.  Bones_.

A large drop of water lands on the end of his nose from the cell roof and shocks him out of his trance.  At least it doesn’t sting like Rachel’s rainbows.  Zach still feels exhausted, so he crawls to the rickety cot in the corner and falls asleep.  And he dreams.

Zach recognizes the Secret Headquarters.  Chris, wearing his costume, looks concerned. 

“Still no word?”  He’s grabbing on to the back of a chair so hard that his knuckles have turned white.  He doesn’t seem to notice Zach at all. 

Oh.  Another one of those dreams where he’s invisible.  Great, he can’t even be the star of his own dreams now.  Although at least Chris isn’t dying in this one.  He looks around HQ.  It’s very quiet.  Zach figured it would be all hands on deck by now.

Zoë is leaning against the command console, shaking her head.  Surprisingly, she looks worried too.  “ _This_ is why sidekicks…”  But she trails off, looking at Chris.

John is pacing up and down.  “At least he has Anton with him,” he mutters.  “And that godawful costume.  It’ll stop anyone in their tracks for a full sixty seconds.”

“Hey!” Zach says indignantly.

Zoë lifts her head, looking alert.  She fishes out her necklace and fiddles with the charm hanging from it, and Zach comes closer to have a look.  It’s a small half-heart pendant.  Her eyes grow soft for a moment.

“Perhaps John could –” she says eventually, but John shakes his head.

“Unless I know _where_ to teleport, there’s nothing I can do right now.”

“God, this is all my _fault_!” Chris explodes. 

“I know you’re worried, Blue, but we need to stick to the plan.”  Zoë straightens her shoulders and looks determined.  “Grow a pair, both of you,” she snaps, and flicks back her hair.  “You boys need balls of steel right now, not balls of cotton.  The plan stands.  Even if Pinstripes is expecting us, he doesn’t know everything.  It’ll work.  And _I’ll_ take comms.  The rest of you are clearly useless at it.”

“Bill and Leonard have agreed to everything?” John asks.

“Yes, in theory,” Zoë says vaguely.  “They said they didn’t want to know too many details.  And they’ve agreed to keep it quiet from everyone else.  They’d raise too many objections.  Tie everything up in red tape.  Sometimes you just have to make an executive decision, you know?”

Chris isn’t listening.  “I should never have let him get involved.  I hope Anton’s protecting him.”  He slumps down in a chair, closing his eyes.

“I don’t need Anton to protect me!” Zach says, outraged.  “And no, he’s really not,” he adds miserably.

Zoë starts looking around.  “Did you…”

“What?” Chris asks.

She pauses.  “Nothing.”

Zach stares at her.  “Zoë?” he asks, his voice shaking.  “Can you hear me?”

“There’s this annoying buzzy sound,” Zoë says, waving her hands around her head and looking cautious.  “ _Really_ annoying.  Are there _bees_ down here?”

“I am _not_ – owww!”  Zach wakes, twisting away from stinging pain.  He rolls off the cot to his hands and knees and looks up.

It’s Rachel and her rainbows again.  She pulls a rainbow whip back for another attack, but a voice says, “ _No_.  He’s awake.”  Zach turns his head slightly to look at Anton gratefully, but Anton turns away.

He says quietly, “Get up.  Pinstripes wants to see you.”

Zach feels a thrill of fear run through him, but stands up.  “Okay,” he says, hoping he doesn’t sound nervous.  He really needs the bathroom, too, but it doesn’t seem like the time to ask.

He dusts himself off and puts on his beanie, but he can’t find his glasses.  His face still hurts from the scuffle with Rachel before, and sleeping on that damn cot has given him a crick in the neck.

“So, we meet at last,” says a voice, and Zach peers into the gloom.  A figure looms towards him: tall, broad shouldered, wearing a well-cut suit like he was _born_ in the damn thing.  His shoes are so shiny that they reflect the fire light.

“Pinstripes!” Zach breathes.

Pinstripes gives him a broad smile.  “Hello, Mr. Quinto,” he says.  “It _is_ Mr. Quinto still, isn’t it?”  Zach nods automatically.  He can’t quite place the accent, but – it’s quite charming.  “How lovely to meet Electric Blue’s nameless new sidekick.  And boyfriend, if I’m not mistaken.”

“Who are you?”

“You said it yourself.  Pinstripes.”

“But not really,” Zach objects.  “I mean, I _know_ you’re not really, because _I_ made up that name.”

Pinstripes raises his eyebrows.  “Nice one, mate,” he says with an approving nod.  “I was thinking of The Sheep Rustler myself, but it didn’t really have the same edge of menace to it.”  Rachel snorts, but drops silent when Pinstripes looks at her.

“Are you…Australian?” Zach asks.

Pinstripes snarls then, baring his teeth.  “Are you _trying_ to make me shoot you? 

“I think you should,” Rachel says sulkily.  “He pulled my hair before.”

“Shut up, Rachel,” everyone else says automatically.

Pinstripes continues.  “I come from God’s own country.  Aotearoa.  The land of the long white cloud.”

“Ohhh,” Zach says.  “Okay.  New Zealand, right?”

“Bravo, Einstein.  Bra-fucking-vo.”  Pinstripes claps slowly, and then opens his jacket to pull out a gun.  Zach feels light headed for a second, and then thinks furiously.  What’s a sidekick supposed to do in this situation?  What’s the regulation procedure?  Duck and cover?  Scream?  Keep him talking?

Zach swallows and decides that talking will at least keep Pinstripes focused on him and not the gun.  “So…why am I here?”

Pinstripes tips his head to the side.  “Okay, hold up.  I haven’t seen this up close yet…Is _that_ your costume?” he asks.  “Really?  You’re serious?  Wow.”

Zach rolls his eyes.  “It’s a fricking prototype, okay?”

“You spent a lot of time with them, Perestroika,” Pinstripes says.  “What on earth did Electric Blue see in – this?”  He waves his gun at Zach, who tries not to flinch back.

Anton blinks a couple of times, glances at Zach.  “I…I don’t know.  Does it matter?

“Not really, no,” Pinstripes agrees.  “Since I’m going to kill him anyway, after Electric Blue joins us.”

Rachel gives a horrible smile at Zach, which he tries to ignore.  But he’s uncomfortably aware of a cold bead of sweat making its way from under his beanie down the back of his neck. 

But he promised Chris he’d be the best sidekick _ever_ , so he has to keep trying.  “Electric Blue seems pretty important to you,” he says.  He sees Anton frowning at him out of the corner of his eye.

“He’s my masterpiece,” Pinstripes says.  “I’ve been working on him and watching him for several years.  And now I think it’s time he learned the truth.”

“What do you mean?”

Pinstripes shrugs.  “I suppose it won’t hurt for you to know.  The truth is, I made him who he is.”

Zach opens his mouth to ask another question, but Anton glares at him.  Pinstripes glances between them.

“Would you two like some time alone?” he asks nastily.

Zach and Anton both shake their heads. 

“I could stand ten minutes in the cell with him,” Rachel snarls.

“Oh, just _try_ me,” Zach says, before he can stop himself.  Pinstripes laughs, an easy and genuine laugh, and then turns to Anton and Rachel.  “You kids can run along now.  I want to have a nice private chat with Mr. Quinto.”

“But,” Anton says nervously, “you…you should have protection.  Let me stay.”

“I don’t need protection.  I have Caesar, here.”  He indicates his gun, turns to Zach with a friendly smile.  “I give them all names, you see.  They’re like children to me.  If I had time, I’d take you to see my Big Gun collection.  I think you’d be impressed.”

“Caesar?” Zach repeats slowly.  He’s heard that word somewhere.  Recently.  He looks more closely at the gun, at the hand holding it.  Nestled into soft white fabric is a platinum and diamond cufflink.  Zach feels his eyes go wide.

Pinstripes’ face is suddenly impassive.  “You two – get out,” he says again to Anton and Rachel.  Rachel shrugs and turns to leave.  Zach can see Anton’s gaze flicking between him and Pinstripes, but he backs away as well. 

Pinstripes comes close to Zach and stares into his face critically.  “I wonder, Mr. Quinto.  Have you been drinking your boyfriend’s coffee?”

“His – what?”  It’s so incongruous that Zach thinks he must have misheard.

“Coffee.  Your boyfriend’s _coffee_.  Have you been drinking it?”  He speaks slowly and clearly.

“Well, I – yeah?  I guess?  I mean, he likes this stuff from Lamill, although I prefer –”

“I don’t care about your _preferences_ ,” Pinstripes snarls, and Zach takes a small step backwards.  “Have you been drinking his coffee or not?”

“Sure,” Zach says, and starts babbling.  “For the last couple of months I’ve gone over every Saturday for brunch and he picks up a couple of coffees from Lamill and makes pancakes.  Although last time I had juice, because I’m trying to cut down on the caffeine.”

And if it weren’t for drinking that juice, Zach wouldn’t be here at all.  He’d be totally unaware of Chris’s secret identity and he’d probably be safe at home with Noah and Harold and blissfully living a normal life.

On the other hand, he probably wouldn’t have Chris as a boyfriend, either.

“Pancakes?  How sweet,” Pinstripes says, and that’s the last thing Zach is aware of, except for the butt of a large gun coming straight at his head.

  
***

  
Zach is lying in bed with Chris, who is staring at the ceiling, his eyes giving off a small crackle every now and then.  Zach sits up, looks around.  It’s Chris’s apartment.

“Fucking great,” he sighs.  “Another ‘I’m invisible’ dream.  This is seriously going to start affecting my self-esteem.”

“What are you talking about?” Chris asks, confused.  “And can you stop hogging the covers?”

Zach looks at him.  “You can see me?”

“Well, yeah.”

“Oh.”  Okay.  Maybe this is just a normal dream.

Chris rolls onto an arm.  “I’m worried about you.”

“I’m worried about me too,” Zach admits.  “Being a sidekick isn’t as fun as I’d imagined.”

“Neither is being a superhero,” Chris says, and bites his lip.  “Don’t tell anyone I said that.  I don’t mean to whine about it.”

Zach can’t help himself.  He leans forward and kisses Chris, hard.  “I miss you,” he says, and Chris makes a noise of agreement and pulls him back in for another kiss.

What the hell, Zach thinks.  He’ll probably be dead soon.  “I bet dream sex has a lot of advantages,” he says into Chris’s mouth.  “And I think we should test that theory.”

“But I’ll feel guilty when I wake up,” Chris says guiltily.  “I’m supposed to be worrying about –”

“This is a _dream_ , Chris,” Zach says.  “You can’t help what you dream, right?”

“I guess not,” Chris agrees, smiling.  “And at least it’s a nice dream.”

“And we can do whatever we want,” Zach points out.  “I bet your eyes will behave themselves, for one thing.”

“No condoms!” Chris laughs.

“Hell, no lube.”

“Let’s not get carried away.”

“You can top, if you like.”  Zach really isn’t fussy.

Chris stares at him.  “Okay.  Let’s get carried away.”

Dream sex really is awesome, Zach discovers.  Everything is perfect and nicely lit.  No noses bumping or bad breath or awkward shuffling into position.  Chris looks like a god in human form and his skin is warm and soft.  Every kiss Zach lays on his body glows faintly blue for a second afterwards.

And they really _don’t_ need lube, they find, as Chris slides in without any friction at all, and it’s _so_ easy.  They fit together effortlessly.  Zach winds his legs around Chris’s neck and Chris looks astonished.  “Is that a dream thing, or –”

“Nope.  Yoga.”  Zach smirks.  Chris’s eyes go all wide, and Zach pulls him by the hips.  “Come on.  Before we wake up.”

“Okay, but seriously,” Chris says, panting as he starts to thrust, “promise me you’ll show me that in real life too.”

“I promise,” Zach says, and tries not to wonder if they’ll ever see each other in real life again.  But Chris feels so good, and is so vocal, and so focused on getting Zach to come that it doesn’t take long before he forgets about everything else.  Zach holds on because he wants to watch Chris, and it's totally worth it.  He can see how the glow builds up in Chris’s eyes the closer he gets, and he notices when they start hovering.  Chris looks preternaturally beautiful, and Zach could swear he sees sparks of electricity running over his skin like lightning in a gathering storm.  Chris comes, and blue light floods the room for a second in a blinding flash, but there’s no danger at all like this, in a dream.

“That is the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen,” Zach pants, before his own orgasm hits.  It rolls right through his body, spreading out like ever-expanding ripples.  Even the air around them seems to vibrate.

Chris’s glow starts to fade gently and they look at each other.  “Best.  Sex.  Ever.”  Zach says and Chris nods sleepily.  They drift back to the bed and rearrange for snuggling.

“Weird, though,” Zach says.  “Usually I wake up after that.”

“Mm.”

They lie content for a moment, and then Zach glances at the bedside table.  “ _Ohmigod_!” he gasps.

“What?” Chris asks, startled.

“What happened to my _glasses_?”

Zach’s thick black frames are lying, snapped neatly in two, on the table.

“Oh,” Chris says.  “Well.  That was all I found at the jail after you and Anton disappeared.”  He looks incredibly sad for a moment.  “I know you liked them.  I’m sorry.”

“They were yours anyway,” Zach says, trying to be brave.

“We can get you a new pair.”

Zach contemplates everything for a minute.  “That’s right, though – I don’t have the glasses where I am.  You know what?  I think I’m unconscious,” Zach says thoughtfully.  Chris looks horrified.  “Don’t worry,” he says hurriedly.  “I’m still being an awesome sidekick.”

“I don’t _want_ you to be an awesome sidekick, I want you to be _alive_ ,” Chris snaps. 

But Zach can feel it now – they have limited time.  “And I think you must be dreaming too, because you couldn’t see me before, and now you can.  And…uh.  Can you pull up the cover a bit, please?  Your abs are distracting me from my mission.”

“You have a _mission_ , now?” Chris asks, but he pulls up the sheet obligingly.

“Yes.  I have to tell you things.  Things that are _very important_.  Because…I’m starting to think this isn’t _just_ a dream.”

Chris is fascinated about the new Lady Luck.  He asks a lot about the strength of her powers.  “If she’s only stinging you with the rainbows, maybe that means she hasn’t been able to fully manifest her powers like Lindsay did,” he says thoughtfully.  “That’s good to know.”  But he absolutely refuses to believe that Anton has turned villain.  “No way,” he insists.  “He must be infiltrating the other side.  You just misunderstood.”

“He told me he would burn me alive!”

“Well…maybe he was kidding.  Maybe you were bugging him.”

Zach gasps.  “ _What_?  Bugging _him_?”

“Where is Pinstripes holding you?” Chris interrupts.  “I’ll send John.”  Zach knows he’s just trying to change the subject.  But they don’t have much time at all now, and none to argue.

“I don’t know,” he admits.  “But look – I _met_ him.  Pinstripes.  He’s trying to lure you to come get me, so don’t.  And Chris – he has guns.  Lots of guns.  But I don’t know what his power is.  He hasn’t done anything super-y in front of me.  Unless hitting me in the head with his gun counts.”

Chris is silent at that, thinking it over.  “He has every villain in LA flocking to him,” he says at last.  “Zoë said the other day that if more of us took being superheroes seriously, and had a proper strategic statement, we could totally wipe out the villains, _and_ clean up in New York.  She said we’re just lazy.”

“You’re not lazy,” Zach says indignantly.

“No, just stupid,” Chris says bitterly.  “I thought I was doing the right thing with Lindsay, and all I did was get you and Anton kidnapped.”

“Chris, I’m telling you, Anton betrayed us.  It’s not your fault.”

“Even if what you’re saying is true, and Anton really feels that way – then, yeah.  It _is_ my fault.  I should have stuck up for him more.”

“Ohmigod, seriously,” Zach says.  “Can you stop with the martyr thing?”  They glare at each other.  “Fine.  Everything’s your fault, you suck big donkey balls, we’re all going to die in agony and curse you with our collective last breath.  Feel better?”

“Not really, no,” Chris says, but he starts to curl one side of his mouth up in a smile.  “But Zach – if Anton really has turned…you need to persuade him to come back, if you can.  He’s so powerful.  If he gets caught up in bad stuff, I’m afraid of what will happen to him.  And about Lady Luck – I have to tell you–”

Zach opens his eyes, stares into blackness.  He trails a hand on the floor.  Cold, damp stone.  Still in the cell.  And no torch outside this time.  He touches his forehead gingerly and feels an enormous lump on it.  His whole head is oddly cold.

“Great.  Just great.”  What had Chris been about to tell him?  He sits up, gropes around for his beanie.  Damn, his head is freezing.  Zach rubs his hands over it and then yelps in alarm. 

His hair.  It’s – _gone_!

  
***

  
There’s even less to do in a dank dungeon cell that is also in total darkness, Zach finds, after he gets over his hair shock.  He finds long strands of something silky all over the hard pillow on the cot.  From what he can feel, he’s been given an inexpert buzzcut.  He’s not sure what it means, but he’s even more grateful that his costume included a beanie now.  “Shows _you_ guys, mocking my awesome costume,” he mumbles.

But in his heart of hearts, he would totally give up the beanie if he could just get out of here.  He would even wear spandex.

His head is aching, and when he tries to sit in the lotus position again, he can’t hold on to his focus for long enough to see anything.  But he’s relieved to find that there’s no mess in his pants after the dream sex. 

Eventually, he sees a small orange torch flicker in the distance, down the corridor.  He hopes it’ll be Anton, because he could _really_ do with a bathroom break now, and Anton’s the only one who will take him.  But as the light grows closer, he recognizes Rachel instead.

“What do you want?” he asks, when she reaches the bars.

“To taunt you, of course.”

“Oh.  Can we not and say you did?  I’m not really in the mood.”

Rachel ignores him.  “How do you like your haircut?” she asks, with a grin.

“You – !”  Zach presses his mouth into a thin line. 

“ _Me_!” she says in delight.  “How you feeling now, _sidekick_?  Does it suit your costume?”

It’s true, he feels less awesome with his hair gone.  But if anyone can make a buzz cut work, he can.  Plus, he still has his skinny leather pants.  _And_ his beanie.  “I like it just fine,” he says.  “Just fine.”

Rachel comes closer to the bars, but not, Zach observes with satisfaction, too close.  She crouches down.  “Oh, really?  You think your _boyfriend_ will like it?  Think he’ll still want you?”

“Uh…”  Zach pretends to contemplate.  “Pretty much, yeah,” he says.  “No reason to expect he won’t.”

“You haven’t looked in a mirror,” Rachel says spitefully, but Zach shrugs.

“Hair grows.  And I have a beanie.”

“True.  If he’ll accept that beanie, I guess he’ll accept anything.” 

At the back of his mind, Zach starts to wonder if the beanie really _was_ a good choice.  No one seems to appreciate it.  But there are more important things at hand.

“So tell me your life story, Rachel,” he says, making himself semi-comfortable.  She doesn’t look like she’s going anywhere soon, and he’s tired of being on edge.

“Nothing to tell,” she says.  “I was Lady Luck’s sidekick.”  She sneers, and Zach tries not to take it personally.  “I took her power.  And now I’m Lady Luck.  I’m moving up in the world.”  She looks at him.  “Are you jealous of Electric Blue?” she asks abruptly, and if Zach didn’t know better, she might almost sound curious.

Zach shakes his head.  “No,” he says.  “I’m not jealous.  Why would I be?”

“Because he has all the power in the relationship,” Rachel replies, as if it’s completely obvious.  Zach shrugs.

“It’s not like that between us,” he says.  “I admire his powers, but I don’t want them.  They’re a burden to him.  A responsibility.”

Rachel looks surprised.

“Were you and Lindsay –” Zach starts, but she cuts him off.

“When Electric Blue comes for you, Pinstripes is going to kill you in front of him.  And I’ll get to watch.”  She laughs.

“Well, Electric Blue isn’t coming for me,” Zach says confidently.  “So suck it.  You’ll just have to watch me die…um…on my own.”  That doesn’t sound much better to Zach, but Rachel looks interested.

“Why do you think he’s not coming?  You were pretty sure before.”

“I just do.”  He really has to learn to keep his mouth shut if he’s going to be a top-notch sidekick.

“There’s something you’re not telling,” she coos in a little sing-song voice.  Zach folds his arms and turns his face away.  He hears Rachel stand, and the light begins to fade as she leaves him, skipping back down the corridor.

Zach waits.  He tries yoga and meditation, but he’s too worried.  He keeps thinking about the dreams he’s had of Chris.  If their pillow talk really happened, what does that mean for his other dream of Chris, hurt or dying?  He’s not sure.  He doesn’t really want to think about it.

Much later, Rachel returns, sashaying down the corridor like it’s her own personal catwalk.  “Pinstripes sent me to get you for the final battle.  It’s happening soon.  And since you’re so sure Electric Blue isn’t coming for you, he wants you there so he can kill you while all the heroes watch.”  She unlocks his cell and waves him out, stopping him with a hard hand on his bicep as he goes by.  “And I wanted to be sure to tell you,” she says softly in his ear, “ _I’m_ going to kill your stupid boyfriend the first chance I get.  Pinstripes – he’ll thank me for it later, no matter what he says now.”  She smiles sweetly.  “Turn around.  Hands behind your back.”  She binds him tightly with a rainbow.

If Chris is correct, and her powers aren’t manifesting right, maybe he’ll be able to take her out before she gets to him.  But flashing again in his mind, Zach can see Chris’s eyes fluttering shut, and his torn and bloodied costume.  It makes him cold all over.

“Pinstripes is going to lose,” Zach says obstinately. 

“Of course he’s not,” Rachel says.  “He has the greatest power in the world on his side.  Luck.”

  
***

  
“And here’s Cupid,” Pinstripes says, trailing his hand down an oversized revolver.  “This shotgun I call Bones.  And – I shouldn’t say in front of the others, but this new one here is my favorite.”  He gives an indulgent smile at a strange looking handgun.  “My Lawgiver, I call him.  He’s such a good boy.”  His cufflink is shining light into Zach’s eyes, and Zach remembers his dream – vision?  He’s been here before, either way.  The same steel-pillared room deep in the earth.  Same collection of guns.

Pinstripes turns to Zach and frowns again.  “I really _am_ sorry about the hair,” he says apologetically.  “Rachel is a little bit…well, insane.”

“Uh huh, uh huh,” Zach nods.  “It’s all good, I’m working it.  So, Pinstripes.  Since I’m going to die in a few hours, can I get a bit of closure?”

“What do you mean?”

“Why is Electric Blue so important to you?”

Pinstripes throws himself down on the sofa and steeples his fingers.  “Mr. Quinto, you of all people should understand his importance.”  He smiles and closes his eyes.  “Tell me, why did you want to be Electric Blue’s sidekick?”

“I thought it would be fun,” Zach says, feeling a little sorry for himself.  “Also, he’s my boyfriend, so…”

“But those aren’t the only reasons, are they?” Pinstripes prompts.

Zach thinks about it.  “I guess not.  He’s a good leader.  He takes things seriously.  He genuinely wants to do good in the world.  I find that – refreshing.”

“And so do I.”  Pinstripes nods.  “People need leaders, Mr. Quinto.  They need superheroes and supervillains who will set examples.  And you haven’t had that over here for a long, long time.”

“But…do you mean you’re trying to _help_ him?” Zach asks, bewildered.  “Why all this?  What’s the point?”

Pinstripes stands and begins readying his guns, checking each chamber and laying out holsters.  “In my home country,” he says conversationally, “I was a big fish in a small pond.  I was recognized wherever I went.  People would just about fall over themselves to please me.  But the minute any one of the second-rate, stupid supervillains in LA did anything – well, they got all the coverage.  And I – I was just The Urban Bandit.  I’ll bet you’ve never heard that name before, right?”  Zach shakes his head.  “Of course not.  It was infuriating, because I knew how much better I could be.  I knew if I could just move into a bigger pond, I could grow.  Do you understand?”  He looks at Zach, raises an eyebrow.

“Um.  Sort of?”

“Not long after that, I first realized how easy it would be to take over LA.  Your villains were asleep on their feet.  Your heroes weren’t much better.  The Horseman and Vulcano were strong leaders, but past their prime, and the rest…Well.  I saw an opportunity, Mr. Quinto.  For advancement.  For power.  For control.  I moved here and decided to create a new identity for myself.”

“But even if you win in LA,” Zach says, “the New York superheroes will come for you.”

Pinstripes shakes his head.  “I have an associate working in New York,” he says.  “And my victory here will help morale.”

“An associate?  Like…a sidekick?”

Pinstripes chuckles at that.  “Don’t let him hear you saying that.  I mean, he’s Australian, but I suppose he can’t help that, poor bugger.  We formed a coalition.  Chopper, he likes to call himself.  By now, he’s gathered all the villains together, like I’ve done here.  The superheroes in NYC are more respected for their powers than your lot, even though they don’t get as many front covers and talk shows.  But they still won’t be able to stand against a united front.  A united front behind a _leader_ , Mr. Quinto.”  Pinstripes removes his jacket and starts putting on holsters over his well-cut waistcoat.  “And you see, I’ve always wondered what motivates people to be heroes or villains.  Does the type of power they have dictate their alignment?  Is it inherent in them from the start?  What makes some fail and some succeed?”  He turns to smile at Zach.  “I thought that if I could understand their powers, perhaps it would help us in our endeavor.”

Zach can feel his heart start beating faster.  “Tell me,” he says.  “No one knows, and I’m going to die in a few hours.  So tell me.  What’s your power?”

Pinstripes laughs.  “I don’t need powers, Mr. Quinto.  I have guns and I have a sharp suit.  And, let’s be honest, I have this face.”  He smiles modestly.  “That’s all it took to gather a following.”

“Don’t you want any powers?” Zach asks.  “I thought maybe you were trying to steal some.  Like Rachel.”

“Powers are a dime a dozen.  _Real_ power – control – that’s _worth_ something.”  He pauses and then says, “Well, why not.  You’ll be dead soon, like you say.  Would you like to know what I did, Mr. Quinto?”

Zach nods slowly, wondering if he really does want to know.

“I chose four ordinary people _without_ powers, and started dosing them with a concoction taken from the DNA of existing superheroes.  These four have ingested so much by now that the effects are irreversible.  Lady Luck – she was the first.  She spiraled down early on.  And then Rachel stole her powers – that was an unforeseen turn of events, but it worked out fine for me in the end.”  As he talks, he slots gun after gun into his holsters, and arranges extra ammunition in easy reach.

If Pinstripes really doesn’t have superpowers, Zach thinks, then maybe he’s in with a chance.  Or he would be, if his wrists weren’t chafing into a goddamn rainbow.  Also, he’s never really thrown a punch before and he doesn’t know quite how effective it would be. 

Pinstripes looks like he could take a pretty damn hard punch.

“Perestroika, now he was an interesting one,” Pinstripes continues.  “He’s always felt himself to be a bad seed, not welcome in this country but unable to fit in anywhere else.  He tried to fight fate for a while, and once or twice I even though he’d make it.  But of course, he’s on my side now as well.”

“And Avatar,” Zach says, with dawning realization.  “You chose her –”

“After her fiancé was killed in New York, yes.  I was betting she’d join the hero side to avenge his death.  But she was angry at the New York superheroes for not stopping it.  She never could commit to a side, and while I admire that honesty, it does indicate a lack of direction.  And then…”  Pinstripes gives a cherubic smile.  “Then there was Electric Blue, just a few years ago.  He was an easy target, always getting his coffee at the same place.  Of all of them, Electric Blue was the one who most dedicated himself to his task.  He is a true hero.  He’s the one I’ve been waiting for.”

Zach is staring at him, aghast.  “You are such a _jerk_ ,” he says.

“I’m a supervillain, what did you expect?”

“No,” Zach replies firmly.  “You’re not a supervillain.  Just a jerk.  You couldn’t even _name_ yourself.  And you turned these people's lives upside down for no reason.  Why didn’t you just experiment on yourself?”

“Are you crazy?” Pinstripes says.  “I had no idea what the side effects would be.  It could have turned someone _blue_ , for God’s sake.”  He gives Zach a look.  “Speaking of which, Mr. Quinto – Rachel seems to think you may be hiding something.  Care to share anything?”

“If I had any powers, don’t you think I would have escaped by now?”  Zach swears silently that he’s going to give up coffee altogether if he makes it through this.  And every other caffeinated beverage. 

Maybe Zach does have a power and maybe he doesn’t, but even if he _does_ , it seems kind of useless.  And the less Pinstripes knows, the better.  So he figures he’d better change the subject.  “If you admire Electric Blue so much for being a hero, why are you trying to destroy him?”

Pinstripes gives him a hard, long stare, but eventually shrugs and goes back to his guns.

“No hero can _be_ a hero without a villain to fight, Mr. Quinto, and vice versa.  We’ll be nemeses – connected by fate, holding the balance of power.  We’ll challenge each other to rise ever-higher.  Nothing gets press attention like a good old-fashioned rivalry.”  He grins, and picks up the Lawgiver.  “Electric Blue won’t be able to overlook your untimely demise, after all.  Although I’m sorry it has to be that way.  You seem like a nice guy, despite the beanie.”  His face is full of regret, and then he gives a wide, white smile again.  “I’ll make it quick when I do it, how about that?”

“Dude,” Zach says, his eyes wide.  “You need some serious therapy.”

“I tried therapy once.  I found that big guns work better.”

  
***

  
Once the appointed time draws near, Zach is shoved into a small vehicle with Anton to drive to the battlepoint.  They avoid looking at each other for a while, until Zach remembers what Chris said.  _If he gets caught up in bad stuff, I’m afraid of what will happen to him._

“Chris is worried about you,” he says abruptly.

“Whatever.”

“Well, he is.  I just thought you should know.”

“Well, good for him.  Blue should worry about himself.”

Zach falls silent again, but as they come around a last bend in the rocks, he sees the cavern from his dreams, where Chris was hurt, and his heart stops for a second.  “Anton,” he says desperately, “it was Pinstripes who made you like this.  He told me everything.  He made you and Chris and Zoë and –”

“Shut _up_!” Anton roars at him, and his voice echoes around the cavern.  They’re among the first there, and Pinstripes hasn’t emerged from the rocky corridor yet, but it’s still disconcerting for Zach to have six pairs of villain eyes trained at them in surprise.

Anton glares back, and they all look away again.

“I’ve _made_ my choice, Zach, so quit trying to change my mind,” he says angrily, but quietly.

“I’m just saying.  You shouldn’t fight for the villain who screwed up your life.”

Anton says nothing, and then the rest of the villains begin to arrive, including Pinstripes.  He’s in a very good mood.

“Excellent!” he says, clapping his hands.  “I’ll set up over here.  The rest of you – go and be useful.”

Zach takes a moment to be thankful that Pinstripes is nowhere near as organized as Zoë.  As long as everyone on the heroes’ side knows the strategy, they’ll have a good chance. 

He hopes.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chris is a superhero. Zach wants to be his sidekick. Meanwhile, a dark force is rising in Los Angeles...

“Rachel’s going to try to kill Electric Blue, you know,” Zach says.  Pinstripes glances at him briefly and goes back to setting up a rack for his guns.

“Doubtful.”

“She told me.”

Pinstripes pauses, and then taps his fingers on the metal rack.  He looks at Zach and smiles.  “Rachel doesn’t like you very much, does she?”

Zach shakes his head.  “Nope.  But I think if she _did_ like me, there’d be something wrong with me.”

“Perestroika, go and see where Lady Luck has disappeared to.  I’d like a word with her.  And I feel like I could use a little good fortune.”  Anton looks around blankly and walks off in what seems to be a random direction.

Zach watches the villains set themselves up.  There are torches all around the interior for light.  They all seem very casual about things, and Zach is starting to wonder whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing.  To pass the time, he studies Pinstripes’ gun collection, trying to memorize how many rounds each would hold and what range they have.  He’s not very successful at it, but he keeps trying.

Eventually Anton returns with Rachel, who looks sulky.  “What?” she snaps, but Pinstripes just gives her a look.  “Sorry,” she says.

“Zach here tells me you’re planning to kill Electric Blue,” Pinstripes says casually. 

Rachel glares at Zach, and he sees little slivers of color slide out of the tips of her fingers.  He takes a step backwards.

“Just so we’re clear,” Pinstripes says, holding up Cupid and taking aim at Rachel.  “No one kills Electric Blue.  Except me,” he adds.  “If I feel like it.”

Rachel nods her head frantically.  “Understood,” she says breathlessly.

“But you won’t, right?” Anton blurts out.  Pinstripes raises his eye brows in surprise at him.  “I mean,” he says nervously, “I didn’t think that was the plan.”

“Perestroika, you of all villains should understand that we can be unpredictable,” Pinstripes says with a smile.  “But – no.  I probably won’t feel like it.  Besides, I’ll already have had the pleasure of killing Electric Blue’s sidekick.  I think that’s enough of a treat for one day.”

Anton goes white.  “I thought we agreed you were just going to hurt him.  Rough him up a bit.”

“Isn’t that just the way with Generation Y?” Pinstripes says to Zach.  “They never fucking listen to a word I say.”  He turns back to Anton.  “ _Yes_ , I’m going to kill Zach.  And _you’re_ going to kill the heroes.  Are we clear?”

“ _Kill_ them?” Anton says.  “But…”

Zach remembers what Chris told him right after he found out about his secret identity.  _I’m a superhero, not a supervillain.  I don’t kill anyone._ He really, really hopes Chris taught Anton the same thing.

Pinstripes snarls, “Are we _clear_ , Perestroika?”

“Crystal,” Anton whispers.  He avoids Zach’s eyes.

“You,” Pinstripes snaps at Rachel.  “Do your job.”  Rachel looks mutinous, but raises her hands.  A trickle of green stars shoot from her fingers, arc gently and shower over Pinstripes.  He smiles.  “I feel luckier already.”

  
***

  
Zach can hear the heroes before he sees them.  There are explosions and noise and smoke coming from down a corridor, and several villains are flung backwards into the cavern, yelling.

He sees Zoë cart-wheeling out of the opening, talking into a headset at the same time.  And then a bright blue beam cuts through the gloom and Zach catches his breath.  Zoë has readjusted the plan.  Chris was supposed to be second-wave with Anton, the little traitor.  And now Chris has been bumped up to first-wave, the most dangerous part.

The corridor that the heroes burst out of is all the way across the cavern, the noise is booming around the rocky walls, and there’s a haze of smoke hanging in the air.  But Zach can feel Chris looking at him, and he _knows_ Chris has that determined look on his face, that look that always makes Zach a little weak in the knees.

Pinstripes raises his gun to Zach’s head and they look at each other.  Zach prays he won’t wet himself before he dies.

“No, not yet,” Pinstripes says thoughtfully.  “This is only the first-wave crew, right?  I want more of them here to see this.  I want them all to remember.”

He moves away and Zach sags back against the wall of the cavern, cold sweat running down his back.

“Need a diaper?” Rachel asks in his ear.  She leans casually against the wall and smiles at him.

“Look, can you just fuck off or something?” Zach snaps.  He’s officially lost his patience with Rachel.  If he’s going to die – and he’s pretty damn sure he is – there’s no need to watch what he says anymore.  “You have some crazy problem with me because I’m a sidekick, and _proud_ of it, but you’re just a third-rate supervillain, lady, with stolen powers and a fricking catsuit.  From where I’m sitting, I’m still doing better than you.”  He sounds a little more contemptuous than he meant to, but _goddamn_ , Rachel is asking for it.

She looks like she’s been slapped, and then her eyes darken.  Zach starts to worry, just a little.  “Third-rate?” she says.  “Stolen powers?”  She’s shrieking now.  “ _Just you watch me_.”

And before Zach can say anything else, Rachel takes off at a run, pushing past Anton who is sending out desultory fireballs over the crowd.  She’s heading straight towards the glowing blue corner of the cave where Chris is fighting. 

He sees Zoë, whirling like a mini-hurricane, her daggers flashing lights as she takes down a villain.  The Horseman is punching every enemy he can reach, while Vulcano is dropping them with refined squeezes to the neck.

It’s exactly like Zach’s dream. 

Zach sees a flash of blue light from across the cavern – it’s Chris.  But by the time Zach catches sight of him again, Chris is on the ground.  His eyes are fluttering closed, and his costume is torn and stained with blood.

And Rachel – Rachel is standing over his prone form, laughing triumphantly.  Zach’s head starts to spin, and he’s pretty sure he’s going to pass out.

“No!” Anton is shouting.  “No!  _Blue_!”  He starts shoving through the fighters, trying to get to him.

“That fucking _bitch_ ,” Pinstripes spits.  He throws down his gun in frustration.

There’s a rush of – not wind, but space displaced, and John is suddenly there next to Rachel, holding on to someone.  “Go!” he shouts, pushing her forwards.

Zach gasps.  It’s Lindsay.  Her hair is still lank on her shoulders, but Zach can see, even from this distance, that her eyes are bright and angry.  She takes two quick steps towards Rachel, still gloating over Chris’s body.  Zach sees surprise and then fear flicker over Rachel’s face.

Lindsay wastes no time.  She grabs Rachel’s face and plants a ferocious kiss, right on her lips.  Zach could swear he hears an actual sonic boom as her mouth lands, and then – all the color is sucked out of Rachel, like water disappearing down a drain.  He can see it flooding into Lindsay: her hair flowing behind her now like it’s on fire, staining bright and beautiful orange-red from root to tip.  The kiss only lasts a few seconds, but when Lindsay pulls away, she’s more alive than anyone Zach has ever seen.  She’s bursting with color.  Even her hideous orange jail jumpsuit morphs into forest green.

Rachel, on the other hand, has turned into a mousy dishwater blonde.  Her curls droop.  Her catsuit is a murky khaki now.  And she looks _terrified_.

Lindsay pulls back and stares into Rachel’s eyes.  And then she shoves Rachel to the ground, raises a hand, and wraps a brilliant rainbow whip right around Rachel’s throat, choking her.  It’s brighter than any rainbows Rachel ever sent at Zach.

“ _Lindsay_.”

Zach feels a horrible sob rising up through his gut, into his throat, and escape out of his mouth.  Chris is rising up from the ground like he’s returning from the dead, his eyes glowing white-blue.

“Linds,” he says again.  “ _Stop_.”

She turns her head slowly to look at him, and Zach can see the rainbow whip loosen, slither back into her fingers.

Rachel starts scrambling away, running blindly towards the exit.

Zach sees Chris grab Lady Luck – the real Lady Luck – by her shoulders, and say something sternly.  She’s frozen for a minute, but then nods sharply, and pulls away.  She stretches out her arms and sends out an emerald green shower of sparks, raining all over the cave.  The entire cavern lights up with a phosphoric green light.  As Zach watches, he sees the sparks hit all of the heroes – sink in like raindrops.  And then Lady Luck turns, starts running after Rachel.

The sparks are gathering over his head, too, streaming into him.  It’s – _weird_.  All of a sudden he feels like he can do anything.

The villains start to fall back, some of them screaming.

“Bugger that,” Pinstripes snarls.  “I make my own luck.”  He turns to the table behind him and grabs up the Lawmaker.  “They can _all_ go down,” he says, and turns to Zach.  “And you firs – ”

But before he can finish, his gun explodes in a fireball, sending Pinstripes flying backwards into the cave wall.  Zach gapes at him for a second, crumpled and bloody.  His suit is scorched.  The gun is a mangled lump of metal.

“ _Move_ , you moron!”  A hand grabs him at the shoulder.

“Anton!” Zach gasps.  Anton shoves him, hard, just in time to avoid a flying knife.  Zach tries to sit up, spitting dirt and something wet.  He hopes it’s not blood.  Or if it is, he hopes it’s his own.  Because otherwise, _ew_.

“Just stay down,” Anton snaps, and start shooting flames.  “Fucking sidekicks!” he says between infernos.  “There’s a _reason_ –” BLAST! “ – they _die_ all the –” BLAST! “ – goddamn time!”

“Anton!” Zach says again.  “You’re – you – ”

Anton takes a second to glance at him, holding a hot, fiery shield in front of them both.  “The sparks,” he says briefly.  “From Lady Luck.  They got me too.”  They lock eyes. 

“But she only gave luck to the–”

“ _Yeah_ , genius!  Now how about you do your damn _job_ , sidekick?  Blue needs you.  _I_ need you.  We are screwed in, like, fifteen seconds!  The villains saw me hit Pinstripes and _they are coming for us_.  I’m good, but I’m not thirty-angry-villains good!  And some of them are flame retardant!”

Wow.  Way to put the pressure on, especially when he can’t do anything.  Zach feels his heart thumping so fast it’s gonna explode.  He can see the first row of villains heading straight for them, looking murderous.  “Calm down, calm down,” he mutters.  “Think, you idiot.”  He can’t think.  He’s freaking out.  Automatically, he pulls himself into the lotus position.  Anton is staring at him like he’s gone insane, and probably he has, but –

 _Zoë.  Zoë, we need John over here right now!_ In his mind’s eye, Zach sees Zoë look up in surprise from far across the cavern, and then start issuing orders into her headset. 

“I’m here, I’m here!” John shouts in his ear.  “What?  What is it?  Oh, _shhii_ -”

Zach feels John seize his arm and hears the singing noise of teleportation.  At the last second, he sees John grab Anton’s ankle.

“- _iiit_!”

The echo of John’s voice changes as they arrive in the heroes’ Secret Headquarters.  The superheroes standing around all jump and stare.  Anton’s flame shield sputters and goes out.  John is gasping, looking back and forth at Zach and Anton.  Zach is too surprised to know what to do, so he just swallows.

Madam Ryder is paused with chopsticks half-way to her mouth.  “What are you doing back here?” she asks John, surprised.  “And – what is _he_ doing here?”  Everyone glares at Anton.

Zach is suddenly furious.  He stands up, clenching his fists.

“What the hell are _you_ doing?  You’re sitting here, eating _sushi_?”  He glowers at them all, and they pull back a little.  “Electric Blue is out there taking shots from everywhere!  And Anton – _Perestroika_ – is doing what you fuckers are apparently too scared to do!  His goddamn _hero job_!”

“But we thought he was a vill –”

“ _Ohmigod_!” Zach shrieks.  “ _No_!  And that is so not the point!  Did you not listen to Avatar’s plan?  _You are supposed to be there_.  Second-wave!  Now!  Even _I_ understood that!”

Madam Ryder puts down her sushi.  “Oh,” she says, guiltily.  “Well.  We didn’t really understand the acronyms – but okay?”  She stands up, looks at everyone else.  “I guess we should go?”

Zach throws his arms up in exasperation.  “Jeez, you think?”

“I’ll take them,” John says hurriedly.  He starts teleporting them out in batches.

Anton moves a little apart once they’re all gone, looking like he’s not sure about what he’s done.  Zach strides across and pulls him into a fierce hug.

“Hey, hey, hands off the merchandise!” Anton says, trying to push away a little, but not too much.

“Come _here_ , you idiot,” Zach growls, pulling him close again and squeezing as hard as he can.  “You _stupid_ little – putting yourself in danger for me – the fuck were you _thinking_?”  He pulls back and shakes him a little.  “Anton!  You stupid fucking amazing awesome _hero_!”

Anton starts grinning.  “I know, right?”

“ _Yeah_ , you know!  You took out Pinstripes!”

Anton looks less happy.  “I don’t know about that, Zach.  He’s tough, even if he doesn’t have powers.  And I didn’t hit him, just the gun.  Because Blue always says…no killing.”

Zach nods.  “We need to get back there.”  He needs to see Chris again with his own eyes.

“So let’s go,” John says in his ear.  They both jump. 

“ _Still_ not cool,” Zach snaps.  “And what in the hell _happened_ back there?  How did Chris – how did he do that?  I thought he was…”

John looks slightly sorry for him.  “He was just playing dead, Zach.  We had to distract Rachel to get Lady Luck close enough to her.  I’m sorry – we didn’t have any way to tell you.”

Zach closes his eyes for a moment.  “Okay,” he says eventually.  “But for future reference there are to be _no_ ‘Chris pretends to be dead’ plans without my express, prior approval.”

“You’ll have to talk to Zoë about that.  But come on,” John says with a charming smile.  “Let’s get moving.  You can even grab my ass this time if you want, Zach.”

“I can _assure_ you –”

“ – no desire at _all_ to you grab your – oh _shit_!”  They’re back in the battle, closer to the other heroes.  Zach ducks, narrowly missing a flying boulder.  Anton cheers as it hits a villain.  He starts firing at villains, whooping.

Zach tries to stay down, crawling towards familiar blue zaps.  He’s so busy pretending not to exist that he bumps right into sky-blue spandexed legs. 

“Zach?!”

“Chris!”

“Stay _down_!”

“That’s the plan,” Zach mutters.  He scrambles behind Chris, avoiding punches and lasers.  When there’s a brief lull, he asks, “I really, really wish you’d told me you were trying to distract Rachel like that.”

“I’m sorry,” Chris says.  “I tried – but – you were gone before I could.  In that dream.  It was Zoë’s idea.  But we weren’t quite sure how to get near enough to her.”

“I think that was me,” Zach says.  He feels a little guilty.  “She went running over after I talked to her.  But it was mostly accidental.”

“You’re a great sidekick even when you’re not trying to be,” Chris grins.

“I thought you were dead,” Zach reproaches. 

Chris bends to give him a swift kiss.  “I’m sorry.”

Zach is slightly mollified.  The fighting starts up again and after a few seconds, he yells, “Can I help?”

“No!” Chris bellows back.  “Just – don’t die or anything, okay?”

“I’m on it!  Hey, where did Lady Luck go?”

“Not the time, Zach!” Chris shouts.

“Okay!  Sorry!”  He ducks again, and his beanie falls off.

Chris zaps a few more times and then glances at him again.  “What happened to your _hair_?” he asks.

“Not the time, Chris!”

It’s kind of awesome to watch Chris in full-on fight mode.  No one can really touch him, and Zach is a little ashamed that he ever thought a half-assed Lady Luck would even have a chance against him.  Chris puts up a sort of shield around them both, making the air thick, so that things thrown at them slow down enough for Zach to bat them away. 

Zach thinks they make a pretty good team.

Chris zaps and fights and throws villains around telekinetically.  Zoë is making major headway too, Zach notes, speaking calmly into her headset while she slings a dagger with one hand to pin a villain by a voluminous sleeve to the cave wall, and butts another in the face with her elbow. 

He sees John get taken out by a weird whipping vine, and cringes.  Madam Ryder is drifting through, and Zach is outraged to see her pretend not to hear John calling for help.  Viking Hammer reaches him instead, glaring at Madam Ryder, but the crowd closes in again and Zach loses sight of them all.  Chris dashes forward to try to help.

The next thing Zach sees is a large shotgun pointing right at his nose.

“Hello, Mr. Quinto,” Pinstripes says.  He’s somehow dragged himself right across the cavern, and he’s covered in grime and soot and blood.  “You made me get my suit dirty,” he says.  “Not.  Happy.”

“Well,” Zach whispers.  “I guess you should have got a better costume.”

Time slows right down, and Zach can see Pinstripes start to pull the trigger.  He tries not to close his eyes, but it’s impossible not to.  He doesn’t want a bullet to be the last thing he sees before he dies.

But even behind his closed eyelids, Zach can see the erratic burst of electricity streaking through the whole cavern.  He opens them again gingerly.  Chris is standing nearby, glaring at Pinstripes, whose suit is smoking slightly again.  He’s unconscious. 

In fact, so is every other villain.

“ _No one_ hurts _my_ boyfriend,” Chris says, breathing hard.

The heroes all drop their fighting positions, looking surprised, except for Zoë.  She rips off her headset and throws it over her shoulder.

“You couldn’t just do that at the _start_?” she asks, annoyed.

  
***

  
The police station is busy.  They arrive well after dark in Zoë’s Lamborghini, and there are a lot of people waiting for processing.  Zoë takes off, muttering about organizing the clean-up.  Pinstripes is still unconscious, so Chris and Zach prop him up between them.

They wait quietly, ignoring the looks and whispers.  A kid comes up to ask Chris for his autograph, and he obliges.  “Remember to eat your vegetables,” he tells the child with a grin, and the kid nods so hard he looks like his head will fall off.

“That was awesome, though,” Zach says.  “The electric burst thing.”

Chris looks sheepish.  “It would have saved everyone a lot of trouble if I’d _known_ I could do it,” he says.

“Well, you didn’t know.  And you would have denied Zoë the pleasure of barking out orders to everyone.”

They’re finally called over for processing, and Chris is asked to take Pinstripes to a holding cell.  He lays him gently on the bench and looks at the other occupants of the cell.  “Please don’t do anything to this man,” he says, his eyes crackling.  “Because if you do – I’ll come for you.”  Most of them are just drunks, but one or two of the more violent-looking shrug and nod.

“That was…uneventful,” Zach says afterwards.  They stop outside the station, looking at each other.

“Yeah.  It usually is,” Chris says.

“I thought the police would make more of a fuss.  I mean, we got Pinstripes for them.”

“They’re not really that interested in supervillains,” Chris admits.  “They prefer to leave the fight to us, and just book them when we take them in.”

“Hey, boys,” says a husky voice behind them, and they both turn, startled.

It’s Lady Luck.  She smiles. 

“What are you doing here?” Zach gasps.

“Same as you, probably.  Turning in Rachel.”

“Oh,” Zach says in surprise.  “I thought you would have just…you know.  Killed her.”

“I loved her once,” Lady Luck says.  “And – and maybe I didn’t treat her as well as I could have.  So I owed her, I guess.”  She looks at Chris.  “You take better care of your sidekick than I did of mine, okay?”  Chris nods seriously.  “I’ll see you round, boys,” she says, and Zach stumbles back a little as she shoots straight up into the sky on a bright rainbow.

“I didn’t know she could do that,” he says in amazement.

“The more you know,” Chris says. 

“Will she use her powers for good now?”

Chris shrugs.  “Come on.  Let’s go home.”

“I’ll get a cab,” Zach says, looking around.  But Chris stops him with a smile.

“We don’t need a cab.  We can just fly.”

“Oh, yeah,” Zach says.  “I forgot.  This is going to save me a lot of money.  And it’s environmentally friendly!”

  
***

  
“Wait, wait!” Zach says.  They’re barreling through the air, but Chris slows them down immediately and looks at him in concern.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes,” Zach says.  “But I’m wondering how the fuck you have never seen the possibilities here.”

Chris frowns.  “Huh?”

“Dude.  You can _fly_.  You could have _flying sex_.  With _me_.”

“Uh,” Chris says.  “I don’t think this is really the time.  And do you ever think of anything else?”

“Christopher,” Zach says seriously.  “My boyfriend wears a spandex suit to work and has a butt that won’t quit.  _No_ , I don’t think about anything else.”

Chris smiles a little.  “My butt won’t quit?”

“Jesus, have you _seen_ it?”  Zach grabs it, and Chris smiles again.

“Well, I guess we could try it.  I think – I think I’ve got my eyes under more control, too.  After that blast.”

Zach grins.  “Get this off,” he demands, pulling at Chris’s suit. 

“We don’t have any –”

“Every good sidekick should be well-prepared,” Zach says, pulling out a packet of lube and a condom from the back pocket of his leather pants.  “And I’m the best sidekick ever.”  He’s privately glad that Pinstripes or Rachel didn’t take them away when they were holding him in the cell.

“The best,” Chris agrees.  He floats their clothes nearby so they don’t lose them.  There’s enough cloud coverage tonight to hide them from anyone watching from the ground, thankfully. 

It’s a little weird at first, because they can’t agree who gets to top.  Zach wants Chris to do it, but Chris says Zach should.  Chris wins the argument because he says he can’t be sure about his eyes, and so he should face away from Zach. 

Then Chris has to make an air-shield again beneath Zach’s feet so he has something to push against.  Zach slides sloooowly into Chris, sucking on the back of his neck and looking in wonder at the city spread out far below as the clouds open for a second.  They start closing in again around them and Zach picks up his pace.

“Zach – I’m gonna –” Chris pants, and Zach gives his cock an encouraging squeeze.  The clouds start rolling over them, covering them, and Zach wonders if it’s because of Chris.

“Go on,” he whispers into Chris’s ear.  “You’ve earned it.”

There’s a bright blue blaze of light, and Zach closes his eyes, shivers in the cold mist of the clouds, starts coming too.  It’s only when he’s finished, panting into Chris’s hair, that he realizes they’re in the middle of a violent thunderstorm.  “Jesus fuck!” he yelps, pulling out of Chris roughly.  It’s freezing, and there are electrical bursts all around them.

Chris twists around to look at him.  “Sorry,” he says.  “I think this might be my fault?”  He’s put up an air-shield around them, but Zach is freaking out.

“Just – get us out of here!”

Chris grabs him tight and they fall faster than a shooting star towards the earth.  “Clothes!” Zach shouts.

“Too bad!” Chris shouts back.

Zach hopes really, really hard that no one is watching from below.

Chris lands them safely, shivering and naked, on his balcony.  Zach starts pulling off the used condom.  “Ew,” he announces.  “Okay, that was hot, but dream sex is less messy.” 

“I like them both.  They have different benefits.”  Chris scrabbles for a key hidden under a pot plant to let them in the sliding door.

“How very security-conscious,” Zach says.

“Just get your naked ass in there,” Chris sighs.  He looks tired.  It’s started to rain from Chris’s storm clouds.

They dry off and crawl into bed, exhausted.  Zach asks, “Do you think my powers will stick around?  Pinstripes said they were irreversible in you and the others.  But what about me?”

Chris is quiet, and Zach thinks he might have fallen asleep.  “Honestly?” he says at last, “I hope you go back to normal.  I wouldn’t wish this on anyone.”

Zach considers this while Chris falls asleep and begins to gently snore.  Well, he thinks, no time like the present to figure it out.  He dreams.

“Pinstripes.”

Pinstripes looks up from his bench in prison, where he’s lying on his back, hands behind his head.  Everyone else in the cell is piled in the corner, one on top of the other.  All unconscious, all bruised and bloodied.  Zach looks back at Pinstripes, appalled.

He shrugs.  “A man needs room to spread out,” he says with a grin, and sits up.  “So, Mr. Quinto.  Come to gloat?”

“No.  And Electric Blue would have taken care of this for you,” Zach tells him, waving his hand at the man-pile.

“I prefer to do for myself, thanks all the same,” Pinstripes says. 

“But you have no powers.  How did you…”

Pinstripes laughs.  “Boxing move, mate.  I like to call it The Real McCoy.  So what are you doing here?”  He pats the seat next to him, and Zach sits down.

He asks abruptly, “Am I going to stay like this?”

Pinstripes laughs again.  “Come for information, have you?  Okay.  I have nothing to lose now.  I don’t know, Mr. Quinto.  I don’t know how much coffee you drank.”

“A lot,” Zach admits.  “Sometimes I drank a few sips of his when he was out of the room, too.”

Pinstripes gives him a sidelong look.

“I need a lot of caffeine to function,” Zach says defensively.

“If I had to make an educated guess…”

“Yes?”

“For the others, it was long-term exposure that worked, rather than a big one-off dose.”

“Oh.  So – probably, yeah.  I’m stuck like this.”  Zach isn’t quite sure how he feels about it. 

“So,” Pinstripes asks after a moment.  “What’s Electric Blue said about me?”  He sounds eager.

Zach shakes his head.  “Nothing much.  Sorry.  I don’t think he’s really down with the idea of an archenemy.”

“No sense of tradition,” Pinstripes says, annoyed.

“Tradition,” Zach muses.  “Hmm.  You’ve got me thinking now.”

“About?”

“Names and costumes,” Zach says vaguely.  “Look, I’m going to go have dream-sex with my boyfriend now, so I’ll leave you to it.”  Pinstripes looks pained.  “Sorry, probably TMI.  I’ll see you.”

“Goodbye, Mr. Quinto.  No hard feelings.”

“ _Excuse_ me?  _You_ have no hard feelings for _me_?  You tried to _shoot_ me!”

Pinstripes shrugs.  “And I failed, didn’t I?  But there’s no point in holding a grudge.”

Zach sighs.  “I’ll look in on you from time to time.  Keep in touch?”

Pinstripes gives his brilliant, wide smile.  “Love to,” he says.  “And give my regards to Electric Blue.”

  
***

  
The next day, there’s a tabloid photo of them falling from the night sky, but it’s thankfully blurry.  Chris is angry about it, but Zach thinks it’s kind of cool.  They stay in bed for most of the day, although Chris makes pancakes for brunch.  They skip coffee.

Chris calls Anton in the evening and has a long talk with him on the phone.  And then he spends a while calling everyone else.  Zach dozes on the couch, dreams wistfully about drinking non-spiked coffee.  When he wakes up, he wonders whether it was a sign, but regretfully concludes that it really was just a dream this time.

The day after that, they return to the Secret Headquarters for debriefing.  It’s Zoë’s idea.  She also says she has an evaluation questionnaire for everyone to fill out.  By the time they get there, the parking lot is full, so Zach heads down in the secret elevator alone while Chris waits for a spot.

Inside, Zoë is already ripping apart John’s performance.  “And I told you to rescue _Zach_ , not Anton as well.”

“Bite me,” Anton says casually.

“I was just trying to value-add, Zoë,” John is saying with a cheeky grin.  He has a tight bandage around his head, and a black eye. 

“You could have value-added by doing the damn job you were _given_ ,” Zoë snaps.  “But…I suppose you did the right thing, getting Anton out too.  And you managed to get those lazy-ass heroes where they were supposed to be.  Didn’t understand the acronyms, seriously.”  She tosses her head in contempt.  “If _Zach_ could understand the plan, anyone could.”

Anton is sucking blithely on a water bottle, looking as cherubic as ever.  He waves at Zach across the cavern.  “Hey!” he calls.  “Where’s Blue?”

“Parking,” Zach says.  “It’s a bitch at the moment.”

“Why didn’t you just fly?” Anton asks. 

Zach shrugs.  “He’s sick of everyone staring at him, and the paparazzi.  Sometimes they throw things at him to make him take off, just so they can get the shot.”  Zach frowns.  He has plans for dream revenge on the photographers.  “So we drove.  Night flying only for now.”

“Well, you should have come earlier,” Zoë says tartly.  “There was plenty of parking above when I arrived.”

“Where is everyone?” Zach asks, changing the subject.  He doesn’t want another lecture about time management from Zoë.

Anton shoots a brief firestream up in the air and watches it, bored.  “Injured.  And a whole bunch have resigned.  Hey, Blue.”  Anton gives a happy, bright smile over Zach’s shoulder.

“Are you serious?” Chris asks.  “ _Resigned_?  They can’t resign.”

John shrugs.  “They said it was too much work.  They don’t want to be responsible for everything anymore.”

“They were never responsible for _anything_!” Zach snorts as the elevator opens again.

“No,” says The Horseman, coming into the cave.  He’s followed by Vulcano.  “No, they never were.  I’m afraid Leonard and I must take some of the blame there.  We should have trained them better.”

“Excuse me, sir, but that’s bullshit,” Chris says loyally.  “I agree with Zoë.  They’ve been lazy.  They wanted all the glory without putting in any work.  It’s not your fault at all.”  He stops abruptly, getting a little pink in the cheeks. 

“Yeah!” Anton cheers.  He starts clapping, and John does too.  The Horseman smiles, glances at Vulcano, who inclines his head.

“I probably shouldn’t have said that,” Chris adds guiltily.

“I think we’ve made a wise choice, Bill,” Vulcano says.  “Electric Blue, come forward, please,” he says, and Chris does, a little confused.  “Bill and I came out of retirement to deal with this issue, but we have no wish to remain at the forefront.  We are tired.  Superheroing is a young man’s game – or a young woman’s,” he adds, nodding to Zoë.

“Geriatric right here, guys!” John smirks.  But no one acknowledges him, and he rolls his eyes. 

“We want to offer you a leadership role,” Bill says, clapping his hand on Chris’s shoulder.  Chris looks like he’s been hit between the eyes by a drainpipe.

“ _Me_?” he asks in astonishment.  “But – I’ve made so many mistakes.  I got Zach and Anton kidnapped.”  Anton looks guilty, but grateful.  Chris has insisted to everyone that Anton is to be forgiven absolutely.  “And I helped a supervillain get her powers back.  And – it’s my fault Zach has started developing powers of his own.”

“That’s not a _bad_ thing,” Zach says out of the side of his mouth.  The dream sex has been amazing.

The Horseman gives a benevolent smile.  “You may have made mistakes, Electric Blue, but that’s how we learn and grow.  You have shown integrity in all your actions and tempered your decisions about what is right with what is good.  And if it weren’t for your plan with Lady Luck, Perestroika would be lost to us, and Pinstripes may have achieved his ambitions.”

“You really do rock,” Zach says with a grin.  Chris is speechless, he can see.  “Yeah, he’ll do it,” Zach says for him, giving him a little shove.

“But…” Chris turns to the others.  “Wow.  What do you all think?”

“Fuck yeah!” Anton yells.  He makes little explosions in the air, like mini fireworks.

“Well, _I’m_ far too busy.  And you’re the only one with any kind of leadership capacity,” Zoë says bluntly.  But she looks approving.

“God knows I’m not serious enough,” John shrugs.  “Maybe next century.”  He grins.  “I think it’s a great idea.”

Chris looks at Zoë.  “Avatar, we owe you a lot.  Thank you.”  Zoë gives a tiny smile.  “And if I do take up the lead…I would need support.  Will you join us?  Officially?”

Zoë looks conflicted.  “Blue, I –”  Zach notices that she’s playing with her necklace again.  “I’ll do what I can,” she says slowly.  “I can help you work out a strategic plan for the next five years, and put some new procedures in place.  And I’ll come back and review every six months.  But…I’m going back to New York.”

Everyone stares at her.  “Avatar,” Bill says in surprise.  “Do you mean –”

“Yes,” Zoë says firmly.  “I’m going to take on Chopper, since the heroes over there aren’t taking him seriously enough to stop him.  _And_ ,” she says, her tone dangerous, “I’m going to find out who killed…my fiancé.  Make them pay.”

“So whose side will you be on now?” Anton asks with interest.

“You’ll have my loyalty,” Zoë says softly.  “You and John and Blue.  And Zach, I suppose, if he loses the beanie.”

“Hey!”

But Zoë breezes on.  “I’ll help you if you ever need it.  But I’ve always been better at being my own boss, and I always will be.”

“What did Zoë do before she got her powers?” Zach asks Chris in a low voice.

“She was the Executive Director of Strategic Planning and Communications at a Fortune 500 company.”

“Oh.”  Zach has no idea what that means, but it explains a lot.  “Is that why she’s so…”  Zoë shoots him a dark look.  “You have to teach me that thought-shield thing,” Zach mutters.

“Being your own boss must be fun,” Anton says thoughtfully.  “Maybe one day…”  Everyone stares at him and he shakes his head.  “Oh – I didn’t mean – I’d never do something like that again.”  He smiles at Electric Blue, a little shyly.  “I’m glad to be here.  I know I have a lot to learn about being a hero.  A real hero.”

“You got that right, kid,” John says, grinning.  Anton scowls at him but Chris clears his throat.

“We’re all going to have important roles, and a lot of work to do, especially while we wait for the injured to get better.  _And_ since so many heroes have dropped out.”

The Horseman says, “Well, then.  Leonard and I will leave you to it.  Happy planning.  We know you’ll all be an amazing team.”

“Right,” Zoë says, after the elevator doors shut.  “Planning.  Let’s –”

Everyone groans.

Chris turns to Zach.  “We can plan later, Zoë.  Zach said he had an important announcement to make.”

Zoë grumbles under her breath, but leans against the command console to listen.  Zach steps forward nervously, but reminds himself that he’s practiced for this moment.  Everyone looks at him curiously, except Anton, who is swigging his Smart Water.

“I’ve thought long and hard about my name,” Zach says grandly.  “And I’ve reached a decision.”  He flings out his arms wide, narrowly missing Chris, who sidesteps hurriedly.  “I am… _Lord Lucid_!”

Anton snorts water everywhere.  “Lord Loser?  Yeah, that fits pretty well.”

“ _Lucid_ , you little –” Zach snaps, but Chris steps forward quickly and gives a warning look at Anton, who is wiping his face on his shirt.  But Zoë is giggling too, and John is shaking his head, laughing helplessly.

“ _Lord_?” he says finally.  “ _Really_?  You don’t think that’s a little, well, ridiculous?”

Anton chortles. 

“You can’t talk,” Zoë tells him.  “You used to be _Prince_ Perestroika until Blue convinced you it wouldn’t be so good when you were a paunchy fifty year old.”  Anton flicks a little flame at her, but Zoë doesn’t even flinch.  “You don’t scare me, little man,” she says, but smiles.

“Well, look,” Zach says, annoyed.  He’s supposed to be the center of attention here, damn it.  “I could drop the Lord, but I still think Lucid fits.  Because of my dream powers, you know?  And also, it can mean bright or glowing, so it ties in with Chris, because I’m his sidekick.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, we all get it, Zach,” John says, laughing.  “Anton’s just giving you shit.  I actually think it’s pretty good.  Chris?”

Chris is smiling softly.  “I think it’s fantastic,” he says.  “It’s – yeah.  Fantastic.”  His eyes glow brightly and Zach grins back.  “Lucid.”

“So who’s up for a coffee?” John says.

Zach and Chris make faces.  “We quit,” Chris explains.  “Bad memories.”

“They’re only drinking Smart Water now,” Anton says knowledgably.  He shakes the bottle in his hand.  “Me too.”

“But, Lucid – what about your costume?” Zoë asks critically.  “You finally have a name.  But you still don’t have a costume.”  She looks him up and down.  Zach has changed into skinny jeans and a cardigan, but he’s still got his beanie.  His hair is a little embarrassing, so the beanie will help cover it up until it grows out a bit.

Zach shrugs.  “We talked it over, and decided I don’t need one.”

Zoë looks outraged.  “Blue –”

“Zoë,” Chris says calmly.  “Zach is a sidekick, not a regulation hero.  Although – he could be if he wanted,” he adds, and kisses Zach on the temple.  “But we talked about that too, and his preference is for a support role.”

“I think we make a good team,” Zach says happily.

“No costume,” John says thoughtfully.  “Interesting.  It’s never been done in my time, but it’s not a bad idea.  Hey, I need a makeover anyway.  Maybe _I_ could try no cost–”

“ _You are keeping your costume_ ,” Zoë snaps.  “What next – we all list our phone numbers and real names in the White Pages?  There’s a reason we keep the traditions.”

“Zoë,” Chris says again.  “Some traditions are good, and some not so much.  Personally, I think the naming tradition is a lot more important.  Because who we _are_ is much more important than what we _wear_.  I think Pinstripes proved that.”

Everyone looks blank.

“He never named himself,” Chris reminds them gently.  “He let Zach name him.”

“Oooh,” Anton says, his eyes wide.  “Yeah.”

“You think that’s what let him down in the end?” John says.  “He didn’t know who he really was?”

Chris shrugs.  “No idea.  But I wouldn’t be surprised.”

Zach feels so proud of himself he thinks he might burst.  “I _knew_ it,” he says.  “Well, okay, I didn’t really.  But if it’s true, wow.  I’m _awesome_!”

“Totally awesome,” Chris agrees, and squeezes his hand.  They grin stupidly at each other, ignoring Anton’s gagging noises in the background. 

“Clearly we won’t get any work done today,” Zoë says.  She slides gracefully to her feet and waves as she walks to the elevator.  “Planning meeting tomorrow, nine am sharp.  See you all then.  Bring your completed questionnaires with you.”

John pulls Anton by the arm, and Zach can hear him mutter, “Let’s leave them to it, for now.”  They each grab a questionnaire and John teleports them out.

Zach smiles at Chris.  “Hey, you.”  Chris smiles back, a little dazed.  “So.  Congratulations."

“Thanks, I think.  I’m...I'm glad I’ll have you with me to help.  I couldn't have done all this without you, Zach.  Thank you."

“Best sidekick ever?” Zach smirks.

“Best sidekick ever,” Chris agrees, and pulls him in for a hard kiss.  "Let's go home and have pancakes."


End file.
